Books
Sammy Sheik Wins Best Actor for “I Am Gitmo” at Marbella International Film Festival 2023
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Written and directed by Philippe Diaz (The End of Poverty?, Now and Later), the film was also nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the festival and will be released in January 2024 to mark the 21st anniversary since the prison took in its first prisoners. It features bravura performances by Sheik (American Sniper, NCIS: Los Angeles) and Eric Pierpoint (Liar, Liar, Alien Nation) who plays his interrogator.
Inspired by the declassified legal hearings of earlier detainees, the story takes place in 2002 and revolves around Gamel Sadek, an Egyptian man living in Afghanistan with his family who is sold for a bounty, taken from his home, and delivered to the CIA under suspicion of terrorism. He is first sent to Bagram Air Base where he is brutally interrogated and tortured, then flown to Guantanamo prison where his status as an “enemy combatant” does not offer—according to the Bush administration—protection under the Geneva Convention.
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, 780 men and boys, all of them Muslim, have been imprisoned over time at Guantánamo since January 2002. 86 percent were sold to the United States during a time when the U.S. military was offering large bounties for capture; commonly, $5,000 was offered per man.
Sheik says: “I’m honored to be a part of telling this very important story. For the first time, the narrative is being told from the point of view of one of the many victims of the so-called “war on terror” and the grave injustices he and many others had to endure, without the usual idolization of the western hero that Hollywood has been presenting for years.”
For the first time, the treatment that Guantanamo’s Arab Muslim prisoners experienced upon detainment is told from their point of view. “The movie I Am Gitmo by my friend Philippe Diaz, scarily brings back, in high resolution, the suffering and the stories I lived through firsthand. It was a hard watch for me. Please watch it to understand what I mean,” says Mohamedou ould Slahi, a former Guantanamo prisoner and author of the international best-selling book The Guantanamo Diaries.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Sheik is known for roles in the movies American Sniper and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. He has had recurring roles in television series including the hit Canal + series The Bureau, Scandal, Homeland, 24, United States of Tara, The Unit, NCIS, and Lost. He is currently in Egypt taping the televises series, Hashasheen.
Diaz says, “This award for Sammy Sheik is much deserved. Sammy did a wonderful job as Gamel, when the character cries, Sammy’s tears are real as is his fear and his anger. I hope Sammy’s performance and this movie can aid the #CloseGuantanamo campaign asking President Joe Biden to close this infamous prison.”
Of the 780 men originally incarcerated and tortured at Guantanamo, 86% of whom were sold for a bounty, 30 remain imprisoned today. Of those brought to Guantanamo, only eight were convicted of crimes, and of those men, four had those convictions reversed. (source: Center for Constitutional Rights)
The film was produced by Cinema Libre Studio.
Trailer at: www.IAmGitmoFilm.com
Learn more at Facebook and Instagram: @IAmGitmoFilm
About Cinema Libre Studio: Cinema Libre Studio is a full-service mini studio known for producing and distributing high-quality feature films and social impact documentaries. Headquartered in the Los Angeles area, the team has released over 200 films.
www.cinemalibrestudio.com | www.facebook.com/cinemalibrestudio | twitter.com/cinemalibre
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The book is described by its publisher as a departure from the familiar underdog arc that typically defines boxing stories. Instead, it follows a coach managing fighters’ egos, ambitions, and the business pressures that operate behind the scenes of the sport. The publisher’s description frames the novel as an attempt to show the mechanics of professional boxing, the decisions coaches are forced to make, and the gap between the sport’s public image and its day-to-day reality.
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