October 24, 2005 Embassy of Jordan in Collaboration with the Royal Film Commission hosts Jordanian-American filmmaker Shereen Abdul-Baki on her award winning film "The Kitchen Conqueror" Washington, DC (October 24, 2005)- The Embassy of Jordan in Washington, DC and the Royal Film Commission in North America co-hosted yesterday Monday October 24th’ 2005 Jordanian-American filmmaker Shereen Abdul-Baki on “Arab Culture through Film” as part of the Embassy’s cultural series, organized by the Jordan Information Bureau. Shereen Abdel Baki’s awarded short film “The Kitchen Conqueror” was screened last week in Washington, DC’s Arabian Sights film festival. The Arabian Sights Film Festival is an annual series of films from and about the Arab world presented by the Washington, DC International Film Festival. This year’s festival, which took place October 14 - 23, 2005, celebrated its 10th anniversary. Each year, Arabian Sights features some of the most evocative and exciting cinema from countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. Indeed, Shereen’s short film reflects the people, culture and history of the Arab world through a young lady, Reem, who “wanders the aisles of her neighborhood market, slipping into dreams of fortune-telling teacups and chicken-slaughtering aunts, who offer advice on cultural identity, love and independence.” Shereen engaged with a predominantly American audience portraying how film is a powerful and dynamic tool to tell a story of a peoples and portray their diverse culture in the face of misperceptions and stereotypes. Shereen Abdul-Baki: is a media designer, filmmaker and food enthusiast whose experience includes working for The Washington Post, AOL and Sapient Corporation. She holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh PA and an MFA in Media Design from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA. Her short film “The Kitchen Conqueror” won the Festival Director's Choice Award at the DC Shorts Film Festival in 2004. Shereen currently lives and works in the Netherlands. The Royal Film Commission was established in July 2003 with a mandate to develop and promote an internationally competitive Jordanian audio-visual industry through the advancement of human, technical and financial capacity in addition to providing comprehensive production support services to local, regional and international productions. The Royal Film Commission is a financially and administratively autonomous Jordanian government body led by a board of Commissioners chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein. The RFC believes that filmmaking is a form of creative expression that transcends borders promoting cross-cultural understanding through the sharing of stories, thoughts and ideas. Jordan is a staunch supporter of Intellectual Property Rights. The RFC is the first Middle Eastern member of the Association of Film Commissioners International. For more information about the Royal Film Commission, visit http://www.film.jo