Sohib Boundaoui
Sohib Boundaoui is an Algerian-American filmmaker based in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2016 with a Bachelor's in Biology, and began working as an Associate Producer and second camera on the documentary film THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this year. Sohib received a grant from Tribeca's IF/Then Short Documentary contest for his short documentary project "GENERATION ON". Sohib is a 2018 fellow for Kartemquin's program, Diverse Voices in Documentary, Youth FX's program, Next Doc, and a 2018 recipient for the Chicago Digital Media Production Fund Grant.
I want to cultivate an understanding of who we are, what our unique identity entails, and what it means to the worlds around us. Generation One touches on only a few common struggles to begin fostering a conversation and meaningful dialogue in the hopes of creating a community. I aspire to kickstart the beginning of a strong artistic movement for the children of the Arab and North African diaspora. I want my work to speak creatively to the presence of people of color, and their representation.
Generation one
Generation One explores the perspectives of the American-born children of Arab Muslim immigrants as they navigate their layered identities. The film follows the life of a Palestinian-American named Hamoody as he decides to leave his tight-knit Arab community and pursue his independence. With vignette interviews from five other Arab-Americans to supplement Hamoody's story and expound upon certain themes, Generation One sheds light on a range of unique challenges found between the hyphens.
This is a short documentary exploring the perspectives of first generation Arab-American millennials that were born and raised in a cultural enclave just outside the city limits of Chicago, Little Palestine.