The Sheik & I
a film by Caveh Zahedi

Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of "art as a subversive act," independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (I AM A SEX ADDICT) goes overboard. Told that he can do whatever he wants except make fun of the Sheik, who rules the country and finances the Biennial, Zahedi decides to do just that, turning his camera on the Biennial itself. But his court jester antics fail to amuse. Zahedi's film is banned for blasphemy and he is threatened with arrest and a fatwa.

"Sharjah, a United Arab Emirate, is home to one of the most popular art exhibitions in the Middle East, the Sharjah Biennial. When its curators approach Caveh Zahedi to produce a film, they give him three rules: no frontal nudity; no demeaning the prophet Mohammad; and no disparaging Sharjah's absolute ruler, Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi. Zahedi can't stop thinking about the last rule. He wonders who this sheikh is and what cinematic treatment might constitute an insult. His film becomes an investigation to find out, in a thoughtful and uncomfortable ride along the boundary between political power and decorum. Ever the provocateur, Zahedi (I AM A SEX ADDICT, I DON'T HATE LAS VEGAS ANYMORE) boldly, sometimes abrasively questions everyone he meets about the sheikh, while flaunting both his western-ness and ignorance of Middle Eastern customs. Zahedi is by now a thorn in the curators' sides. But even when the biennial's administration demands the destruction of the film, threatening a lawsuit if it is shown, he persists. The Sheik and I insistently, almost maniacally pokes at contradictions until they yield knowledge. And it's from this dedication that the profound, some might say spiritual, beauty of Zahedi's work emerges." — Sean Uyehara, programmer, San Francisco Film Society