Beverly Hills, CA, July 28, 2008 – April 13, 2008 was an especially historic evening for the Beverly Hills Film Festival’s black-tie Gala and Awards Ceremony.  Director, producer, and writer Ziad Hamzeh was awarded the 2008 Golden Palm Film Award for Best Film, for his documentary titled “Woman.”  The film is a feature-length documentary based on the writings, lectures, and life of Nobel Prize nominee, activist Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban. Dr. Shaaban has been a professor at Damascus University since 1985, and also serves as Minister of Expatriates in Syria. Before assuming her current ministerial position, Dr. Shaaban was Director of the Foreign Media Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Syria and a spokesperson for Syria.

Dr. Shaaban’s mission is to create awareness while advancing the cause of rights for Arab women. Hamzeh’s film “Woman” depicts Dr. Shaaban as someone who rallies “against the oppressive environment of religious fanaticism, political turmoil, archaic traditions, and the rise of fundamentalist Islamic movements.” Dr. Shaaban’s work is a “personal, revealing, and dangerous quest to champion justice and equality for all women.”
Ziad Hamzeh lives in America, but was born in Damascus. His production company, Hamzeh Mystique Films seeks out “groundbreaking and provocative screenplays and stories of the highest caliber” and the work of Dr. Shaaban is exactly that. Hamzeh traveled Syria, the country of his birth to film “Woman” with Dr. Shaaban. After winning the Golden Palm at the 2008 Beverly Hills Film Festival, he expressed a desire to have Dr. Shaaban receive an award as well for her work and participation in the film.

Hamzeh’s wish came to life with the help of 4th District Council Member Tom LeBounge and Beverly Hills Film Festival President, Nino Simone on the closing night of the Festival. LeBounge presented Simone with two honorary certificates on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, one for Hamzeh and the other for Dr. Shaaban. Simone was later deputized by Labounge to present the awards. Hamzeh then invited Simone to Damascus, Syria to bestow the Golden Palm Award and the certificate directly to Dr. Shaaban. “This truly was one of the greatest film festivals I’ve ever participated in. Never before has a festival put so much love behind trying to help achieve the gold of the filmmakers” Ziad Hamzeh.

Hamzeh’s invitation happened to coincide with the opening of the Alwadi University-Syria at which Simone gave a speech about the importance of the rights of women in the Middle East. After the speech, Simone presented Dr. Shabban and Hamzeh each with an honorary proclamation and then gave Dr. Shaaban her Golden Palm Award for Best Film. “You are truly and hero to fly all this way from the Western world to present this award to us, you have brought light and are the talk of the country,” Dr. Shaaban said to Nino Simone.

Beverly Hills Film Festival President, Nino Simone said the experience was “One of the most enlightening experiences I’ve ever had. It reminds me of when I was in Havana, Cuba where I encountered the utmost welcoming people I’ve ever met. I hope one day in the near future the current sanctions will be lifted so we may experience these two wonderful worlds!”