MEDIA RELEASE

CSUN Professor’s Documentary on the Life of an
American Muslim Comedian to Premier at Film Festival

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., July 21, 2008) — The idea for the film, "Ahmed, Say Something Funny," was hatched about six years ago when Cal State Northridge cinema and television arts professor Thelma Vickroy caught a performance of comedian Ahmed Ahmed at the Comedy Store in Hollywood.

Her friends, CSUN art alum Fred Beshid, a Los Angeles-based writer, artist and producer, and his sister, Northridge child development alum Susan Beshid, insisted that the comedian’s life story was one that Vickroy, a documentary maker, would want to tell.

"I am interested in doing stories about people who are kind of on the outside but trying to make their way and be accepted," Vickroy said. "Ahmed was born in Egypt, but came here when he was only six months old and grew up in Southern California. He’s chosen one of the absolutely hardest careers you could possibly choose—to be a comedian and actor. I couldn’t resist."

Vickroy spent the next five years chronicling Ahmed’s career from the stages at the Comedy Store to his international tour as part of the stand-up comedy team known as the "Axis of Evil."

The film is not a performance piece, but rather a portrait-style documentary that tells the sometimes painful story of an Arab American immigrant trying to succeed in a post 9/11 America, despite his family’s resistance to his career choice.

"Ahmed, Say Something Funny" premiers Tuesday, July 29, at the 2008 Action on Film International Film Festival in Pasadena. The screening is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Laemmle’s One Colorado Theatre, 42 Miller Alley. The film has been nominated for four of the festival’s honors: Best Documentary, Best Documentary-Political, Best Comedy Feature and Best Female Filmmaker-Feature to Vickroy, who served as the film’s producer and director. The Beshids ended up associate producers of the film.

Vickroy said that while she’s honored by the nominations, she’s particularly thrilled that the film is premiering in her adopted home town. "I’ve lived in the Pasadena area for 21 years, so to be able to share my newest film with this community is very special to me," she said.

Vickroy, who has been an associate professor at Northridge since 2000, heads CSUN’s Department of Cinema and Television Arts’ television option. She is an experienced award-winning producer in both documentary and non-fiction television. Her producer/director credits include "An Evening of Forbidden Books" for PBS and "My Father the President," which was awarded a Cine Eagle and an American Film Festival Blue Ribbon. Her documentary, "Extraordinarily Ordinary," was considered for an Academy Award in 1999.

Vickroy said her professional work, which she juggles around a full teaching load, provides her with fodder for classroom discussions, particularly with those students interested in careers in documentary making.

"I tell them what I was told when I was a student: ‘The world of documentary making is a hard road. If you really want to work in the world of documentaries, then it would be a really good idea to have something else lined up as well.’ But it can be done," she said.

Vickroy said a surprising number of documentary makers also seem to work in the world of academia. She pointed out that the cinematographer for "Ahmed, Say Something Funny," Kurt Daugherty, is a professor of audio production for film and video at Loyola Marymount while the composer, conductor and music arranger for the film is Elizabeth Sellers, a professor of music at Northridge who received Primetime Emmy honors for contributing to the music direction of the 2002 Winter Olympics broadcast.

"We’ve always wanted to work together, and the movie presented the perfect opportunity," Vickroy said. "Her music is so beautiful and perfect for the film."

"Ahmed, Say Something Funny," is Vickroy’s third "portrait-style" documentary. She was in Washington D.C. last week scoping out possible subjects for her next one.

"I’m not ready to say who the subjects will be yet, but I do have a couple of ideas," she said.