Press & Links
“Writer-director Heidi Saman’s portrayal of frustration and anxiety within the American immigrant community is heartfelt yet elegantly understated in Namour,” said Array executive director Tilane Jones today. “We’re excited to introduce Saman’s stirring debut feature film to an international film audience.”
Fresh off its L.A. Muse Award and world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year, coming-of-age dramedy Namour has been picked up by Ava DuVernay’s film collective Array.
BY DOMINIC Patten | January 11, 2017
Namour wins the LA MUSE Jury Award!
Celebrating in Culver City: The 2016 LA Film Festival Announces Competition Category Winners
BY MATT WARREN | JUNE 9 2016
6 Films You Absolutely Cannot Miss at the Los Angeles Film Festival
From a family drama to a documentary about teenage inmates, the eight day festival taps into some hyperlocal stories
By Jessica P. Ogilvie | MAY 25,2016
25 New faces of Independent Film 2014
“I was drawn to the idea of the economic collapse,” Saman says. “My parents moved here in the ’70s from Cairo, and they worked hard and moved up. For my generation, it just doesn’t feel the same, and I want to get into how that makes a character redefine his moral universe.”
Rad Girls is a celebration of spirited women who are constantly achieving, innovating, and inspiring. It is an ongoing conversation between empowered women.
"While seeking funding for her film, she faced some unexpected hurdles surrounding the ethnicity of her lead character, an Arab-American 20-something. Unfazed, she decided to produce the film herself through a Kickstarter that was funded by 326 backers."
BY Corinne Warnshuis | 2015
"Heidi Saman’s “Namour” is a slick, sensitive, and exceedingly smart L.A. story..."
David Ehrlich | JUNE 2016
LA MUSE interview with Director Heidi Saman
9 Practical Tips Filmmaker Heidi Saman Learned During Her Successful Campaign to Fund Her First Feature Film
BY Nathalie Sejean | DECEMBER 18, 2016
Namour was made possible by all of the support from our Kick Starter supporters.
Thank you so very much!
"Namour is a striking portrait of ennui and alienation that resonates."
Salon talks to the artistic director of what's being called "One of the best-run black film fests in the country"
BY GARY M. KRAMER, AUGUST 4, 2016
"Heidi Saman’s top L.A. Muse award-winner “Namour” quietly captures a contemporary Southland ennui that transcends gender and ethnicity."
LA Film Festival 2016: LAFF discovers talent in places where the Oscars apparently don’t look
By Bob Strauss, JUNE 10, 2016
Five questions with Namour director Heidi Saman
"...Saman answers questions about the challenges of financing a film featuring Arab-Americans, her experience crowdfunding, and how Taxi Driver and other films inspired Namour."
