Professor Dabashi has been principal advisor for many globally recognized artists and filmmakers; most recently he was the chief consultant to Ridley Scott in his making of “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005, Fox Twentieth Century, Hollywood, USA), as well as Hany Abu Assad’s Golden Globe awarded for best foreign language film and an Academy Award nominee in the same category “Paradise Now” (2005), and Shirin Neshat’s “Women without Men” (2006). He has been closely associated with the later stage of Amir Naderi’s cinema in the United States, as well as the spectacular rise of Ramin Bahrani as a major American filmmaker.
Professor Dabashi has also served as jury member on many international art and film festivals, most recently the Locarno International Festival in Switzerland, and the Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Indian, Asian, and Arab Cinema, in New Delhi, India. The professor is also a self-proclaimed art enthusiast. As an experienced art collector, he is the owner of a wide collection of unique pieces of artwork. His favorite pieces of art include some of the most sought after wall art prints Sydney has to offer.
The work he has completed during his time at the many different art and film festivals from across the world has created a path into the industry for many aspiring filmmakers. Along with having a good idea for a feature film, DCP creation may be needed to help get your movie to the big screen to start with. Feedback from jury members like Professor Dabashi could help you to build upon your career as a filmmaker and attending a film festival may help you along the way.
In the context of his commitment to advancing trans-national art and independent world cinema, Professor Dabashi is the founder of Dreams of a Nation, a Palestinian Film Project, dedicated to preserving and safeguarding Palestinian Cinema. He has organized Palestinian film festivals both in the United States and in Palestine. He is on the advisory board of a number of other Palestinian film festivals around the globe. His edited volume, Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema was the first major multiple-author treatment of the subject in any language.
As a theorist of trans-aesthetics (“art without border”), his articles and essays on the relationship between art and politics have been featured, translated to many languages, and published by museums, galleries, and cultural institutes in Europe, Iran, the Arab ad Muslim World, and the United States.