Editor's Note:

The feature length documentary "HOME - Aramco Brats' Story" will make its Houston, Texas premier at the River Oaks Theatre on October 24, 2007. The film shows life in Saudi Arabia "as seen through the eyes of the Western expatriate children who grew up there between 1933 and present day. Aramco Brats were the children of expatriate workers who were employed by Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company) and who spent their childhoods within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

SUSRIS is pleased to bring you information about the Houston showing, a synopsis of the film and reviews, and a discussion of the film's significance by Michael Saba, Executive Director, Friends of Saudi Arabia. You can learn more about the film by visiting: http://www.bratstory.com 

HOME - The Aramco Brats' Story
Houston Premier

Be prepared for filmmakers Matthew Kuehn Miller, Todd Albert Nims and Zachery Lawrence Nims to bring you inside the culture, the history, the religion, the community, the world of Saudi Arabia on an adventure that will leave you humbled, inspired and enlightened. Scenes of Salaam Films in association with Aramco Brat Media present you the Houston Premier of HOME-The Aramco Brats� Story at the River Oaks Theatre on October 24, 2007. 

The doors open at 6:30, when guests may arrive to the River Oaks Theatre where they will meet and greet while being served light Arabic refreshments at the upstairs lounge before they hurry to snag a good seat for the dedications and premier of HOME-The Aramco Brats� Story at 8pm. Afterwards guests will have the opportunity to ask the Directors a few questions and socialize a little as well as support the filmmakers when picking up their copy of the HOME DVD. 

Tickets are $5 at box office. Proceeds go to development of documentary films that capture the cultural exchanges and mutual benefits of diverse cultures working together.

For reservations go to http://www.BratStory.com

Date: Wednesday, Oct 24th, 2007

Time: Doors Open at 6:30pm to Upstairs Lounge; show goes on at 8pm sharp! 

Location: River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray St., Houston, Texas 77019

Tickets: $5 at the box office (Tickets good for $5 DVD discount)

RSVP: Seating not guaranteed without reservations. Reserve your seats online by writing names in �contact us� section on www.BratStory.com or sending your names to [email protected] with subject heading �Houston RSVP�

Will Call: Give name at box office to claim reservations . Unclaimed reservation will be released to the public at 7:30pm (30 minutes before premier) on the night of the premier

Parking: Allowed in any open spots in lots around theatre; open back lot behind strip mall across street. 

Reception

Time: After premier until late.

Place: Sherlock�s Pub (a few doors down the street), 1952 W. Gray St., Houston, TX 77010

FILM SYNOPSIS:

HOME - The Aramco Brats� Story

A film by Matthew Keuhn Miller, 
Todd Albert Nims & Zachery Lawrence Nims

With all the attention given to the Middle East today, it is important that the Western public receives a complete picture in order that their opinions and sentiment toward Arabs and their homelands� is a responsible one. Much of the history of these countries is left unacknowledged, untaught and for the most part, completely unspoken. One country in particular, Saudi Arabia, is clouded by mystery and stereotypes regarding the Islamic faith that its population holds. HOME - Aramco Brats' Story is a feature length documentary film depicting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as seen through the eyes of the Western expatriate children who grew up there between 1933 and present day. Aramco Brats were the children of expatriate workers who were employed by Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company) and who spent their childhoods within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The film is an amazing depiction of Saudi Arabia, Arabs and Islam narrated by nearly 100 average Western citizens of all faiths who choose not to concentrate on religion but rather look at the other cultural aspects that many miss when unfairly judging these people and their nations.

Beginning with the History of Saudi Arabia and its first monarch, King Abdullah Aziz Ibn Saud, HOME � The Aramco Brats� Story mixes old and new media with the stories and commentary of average Western citizens to explore such topics as: Desert Storm, the Royal Family, the discovery of Oil in 1937, expatriate life within the region and the Western Media�s portrayal of Arabs and Islam. Throughout the film, the audience comes to realize that the reporting they have witnessed, the small vignettes of footage they have seen and the rumors they have heard are not indicative of the overall Arab culture. One of the most interesting facets of the film is found in the understanding these interviewees carry regarding the acclimation of the Islamic world into the new millennium�s Global Village. This privileged group of children and adults have, in their own way, inadvertently developed a Third Culture without denial of religion, race, color or creed that is representative of the future earth culture, with a goal that is nothing shy of world peace.

HOME - The Aramco Brats� Story is one in the first of a series of films that will, without a doubt change the world. If you�ve ever held an opinion about the events of this day and age, or wanted to know more about the Arab world, this film is a must see. You will leave inspired, humbled, and enlightened.

Source: AB Media

We Are From the Same Planet
Michael Saba, Arab News

Recently, I attended an Aramco Brats reunion in Asheville, North Carolina. For those who don�t know, Aramco Brats are the sons and daughters of former employees of Aramco. There are thousands of them spread all over the United States and the rest of the world and their organization have about 4,500 members. They have had as many as one thousand people attending their reunions.

I listened as one of the American Aramco Brats was being interviewed. �Where are you from, Bob?� Bob answered, �Saudi Arabia�. �But where were you born?� 

�Saudi Arabia�, Bob said. 

�OK, what about your parents, where are they from?� 

�Saudi Arabia�, he answered again. 

�But, but where were they born?� 

�Saudi Arabia�, Bob proudly replied. 

Many of these Aramco Brats truly call Saudi Arabia home.

And that is exactly what the title of a new feature documentary film is called, �Home�. 

�Home� is a movie produced and directed by three Aramco Brats, brothers Todd and Zach Nims and Mathew Kuehn Miller who was born in Saudi Arabia. It was done on a shoestring budget. Hundreds of Aramco Brats and I watched the premier of this film at the Asheville reunion. They laughed and cried together and at the end of the movie the producers and director were given a standing ovation. A similar reaction was seen a few weeks earlier when a mini-version of the film was shown in Orlando, Florida. And the majority of the audience in Orlando knew nothing about Saudi Arabia. The filmmakers stress the commonalities between Saudis and Americans.

The Nims brothers and Miller have formed Aramco Brat Media. On their website they state, �We at Aramco Brat Media, being Westerners who have lived in Saudi Arabia, feel it is our responsibility to protect American-Saudi relations by documenting and revealing the true-to-life cross-cultural relationships existing between Saudis and Americans that go unreported by the media.� They go on to say that this film is the first in a series that will further explore relationships between Saudis and Americans and they even plan a film about Ferial Masry, a Saudi American woman who has run and is running for political office in the United States. The Hollywood premier of their film is scheduled for Saturday at the Linwood Dunn Theater Academy Motion Picture Theater of Arts and Sciences.

Contrast this film with a Hollywood blockbuster entitled �The Kingdom� set to be released Sept. 28 throughout the United States. I have previously written about this movie in the Arab News. This movie focuses on terrorist incidents in Saudi Arabia where Americans living in Western compounds were killed. It stars two Academy Award winners, Jamie Fox and Chris Cooper, along with superstar Jennifer Garner and even country star Tim McGraw. It has an $80 million budget, will spend tens of millions of dollars more on promotion and with its thriller, shoot-em-up style looks to be a real box-office winner.

The PR campaign for �The Kingdom� has recently been jump-started with an article in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. In this article, the director Peter Berg and the producer, Mathew Michael Carnahan are quoted extensively. In Carnahan�s words,�� The Kingdom� is intended to figure out what would a murder investigation look like on Mars.� On Mars? Mr. Carnahan, we, Saudis and Americans, are all from the same planet! And you need to go see �Home� so you might better understand that. By the way, at the recent Orlando event mentioned earlier in this article, Saudi and American women played golf together as part of the occasion. Some of the media called and asked, �Do Saudi women really play golf?� The answer was, �Yes and they eat and sleep and walk also.�

The New York Times article begins, ��The Kingdom,� a coming film about the FBI�s pursuit of Islamic bad guys in a not particularly hospitable Saudi Arabia, appears on the surface to tread on treacherous and polarized political ground.� 

�Home� begins with warm hugs between Saudis and Americans. �Home� stresses similarities and commonalities whereas �The Kingdom� appears to be stressing differences and discord. 

After this columnist wrote about the movie, �The Kingdom� in the Arab News earlier this year, he was contacted by the vice president of Universal Studios, which produced the movie, and the technical adviser to the film. To the credit of the producers, subsequently the movie�s trailer was changed, as was the original poster. And the text write-up of the film was altered, all for a more fair representation of Saudis and Saudi Arabia.

There appear also to be some redeeming qualities in the movie. One of the co-heroes of the film is a Saudi colonel who works closely with the Americans to capture and kill the terrorists in the movie. And a reviewer who viewed an advance showing of the movie stated, ��The Kingdom� gets across its message of the need for different cultures to work out their problems and perspectives of each other without getting too preachy or political�. 

I would like to make a suggestion. Since �Home� and �The Kingdom� are contemporary films, why doesn�t Universal Studios add a trailer at the end of �The Kingdom� which states that people who desire another perspective on Saudi Arabia might want to obtain a copy of �Home� and list how to do that. And, oh, �Home� can be purchased on planet Earth. You don�t have to go to Mars to get a copy. 

Reprinted with permission of Arab News

REVIEWS

I was moved to tears from the start and by the time of the final credits I was crying while reading closing thanks to individuals and to the Saudi Royal Family with lyrics being sung in the background that made me smile as I cried. Wow, what a camel ride!
-Elise Forbes-Seeley, Expatriate who grew up in Saudi Arabia

This film was an artistic portrayal of a country and the effects its people and culture had on those who came from another country to make Saudi Arabia their home. At the heart of the film, it is a film of the heart, not to be missed.
- Sandy Jerstad, Senator North Dakota

I am a Saudi female and a second generation Aramcon. Watching the video and listening to the people talking about Saudi Arabia while calling it �home,� brought tears to my eyes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping raise Saudi Arabia's name and for helping bring back some of the friendly Saudi American relationship which I pray for every day.
-Lamya Othman Altuwaijri, Saudi Arabia

It is brilliant, absolutely brilliant! What a great job all of you did!!! Kudos all the way around to everyone involved in making this wonderful piece.
-Steve Furman, Expatriate working in Saudi Arabia

�The filmmakers stress the commonalities between Saudis and Americans.� 
-Article from The Arab News

Todd and Matthew-
Having just viewed, HOME- The Brats� Story I was personally touched by your stories of you and other Americans who have lived in Saudi Arabia over the past 60 years. As two �Brats� who spent your childhood with our Saudi friends there could be no better interpreter of cross-cultural friendship.
Keep up the good work. Best of Luck!
- Tom Katus, Senator North Dakota

Though the tip of the ice berg has been recognized, HOME-The Aramco Brats� Story takes us further below the surface as we are allowed to put a human face to the experience. I can show this to my family in America, as well as friends, who do not visually or emotionally know what I mean when telling them about "where, when, and how," we grew up. The point is; there has been a human face put to who we are and what we experienced. Though we know who we are, and the reunions prove it, the film makes it tangible in a whole new way. Awesome job guys!
-Mark Dolce, Expatriate raised in Saudi Arabia

Source: AB Media

CONTACT:

Mr. Todd Nims, CEO, Filmmaker
HOME- The Saudi Aramco Brats' Story 
http://www.BratStory.com 

AB Media - www.ABMedia.org  

Related Items:

Aramco Expats

Friends of Saudi Arabia