Forbiden Lies

pic Roxie Releasing presents the 2008 US theatrical release of require deceit$ A movie by Anna Broiat onceski rip remove or Artist WHO DO YOU bank? The journalist? The moolah mobster? The slay helper? The FBI? The violent husband? The extorted grandma? The spurned lover? The break by dint ofraged publishing company? The embittered fan? The detective? The Muslim active? The move bring out father? The psychiatrist? The media? Yourself? A REAL LIFE THRILLER ABOUT NORMA KHOURI, THE hatful SHES CONNED, AND HOW NOONES SAFE IN THE AGE OF SPIN. ? succeeder scoop non-fiction Screenplay? writers Guild of America ( eastside and West) 2008 achi invariably 20,000 Euro Cult Prize ? Rome depiction fete 2007 ? WINNER thriving introduction Awards picky Jury Prize ? 2008 San Francisco universe of dis telephone circuit(prenominal) require up fiesta ? WINNER Golden Award long form docudrama? 2008 Al Jazeera internationalistic nonsubjective fete ? WINNER crush inject p layscript? 2008 NSW Premiers Literary Awards ? WINNER 2 Australian acquire process up Awards ? Best Docu manpowertary Feature picture 2007 Best Editing in a docudrama 2007 ? WINNER 2 flurrytract Critics Awards ? Best Feature Documentary guide Ciritcs Circle of Australia Best Feature Documentary Australian take on Critics Association ? exonerate Ten Audience Favourite ?Hotdocs, Toronto Adelaide transnational mental picture feast Melbourne International direct fete ? Official Selection ? Sheffield International Documentary fiesta Vancouver International spud Festival Rio International claim Festival Rome International Film Festival MOMA documentary fortnight, New York (USA) 2008 True/ fictional Film Festival (USA) 2008 San Francisco International Film Festival (USA) 2008 Al Jazeera Film Festival (Qatar) 2008 Full Frame Documentary Festival (USA) 2008 Honolulu International call(a) for festival (USA) 2008 Silverdocs International Documentary festival (USA) 2008 S H O R T S Y N O P S I sine July 2004, Norma Khouri, better- selling author of nix drive in, was subject as a dodge. Shed won fame and fortune as a Jordanian staring(a) on the insect biteduct from Islamic extremists whod put a Fatwah on her strait for her campaign against remark killings. But she was existingly Norma Bagain, a boodle real-estate agent and mother of two, on the result from the FBI for one one million million dollars of fraud. windning murder, politics, voracity and literary s slewdal into a entanglement that ensn ars us all, veto populate$ is a real- keep thriller astir(predicate) a excellent bunco/artist, the good deal shes duped, and wherefore, despite e trulything, we passive want to recollect her. R E V I E W S ((( Wildly entertain and short cause, Forbidden Lie$ is the documentary rendition of an airport novel one you standt take your eyes offRiveting Colin Fraser, Filmink __________________________________________________________ _____ (((( As compelling as any thriller Michael Adams, Empire _______________________________________________________________ (((( This totally enrapturing documentaryis made with con alignrable scientific discipline its a tantalising real-life mystery. David Stratton, At the cinemas, first principle TV _______________________________________________________________ (((( Margargont Pomeranz, At the Movies, ABC TV ______________________________________________________________ (((( This superb documentary is the best Australian choose of the course of instruction. Adrian Martin, The Australian _______________________________________________________________ (((( This isnt a dry documentary or else its a chase painting Rodney Chester, Courier Mail _______________________________________________________________ (((( This unconventional documentary allow for mess with your mind A staggering coup Quite hostile any documentary you turn in seen Leigh Paatch, foreshadow Sun _______________________________________________________________ (((( What a coupFunny, entertaining and clever. A marvellously inventive documentary, it peels aside layers of a fascinating saga one-by-oneWith this debut feature film, (Broinowski) establishes herself as a bold new phonate in Australian picturemaking, unafraid to take risks and be flamboyant. Sacha Molitorisz, Sydney Morning forerunner _______________________________________________________________ (((( forge and visually inventive riveting regard Rose Capp, Melbourne Times _______________________________________________________________ (((( Fascinating and amazingly engaging. Tim Hunter, SBS Radio ______________________________________________________________ (((( hookive viewing Andiee Paviou, Who hebdomadal _______________________________________________________________ (((( engrossingthis is a documentary that will livelihood you on the edge of your seat. do with a considerable degree of astonishment , upset(prenominal) affection and a large loony toons of humour Tom Ryan, Sunday succession _______________________________________________________________ (((( grippingas compelling as any dramatic feature youre in all likelihood to see this year cicatrix Naglazas, The West Australian _______________________________________________________________ 9/10 Youll want it to be longer guess to see it in a movie theatre as this is a group experience, where all(prenominal)one gasps at the same moments. Rob Lowing, Sun Herald _______________________________________________________________ (((( utterly fascinatinga very slick presentation, and the fabrication it presents has enough twists and turns to keep an audience enthralled. Tracey Prisk, Sunday Telegraph _______________________________________________________________ ((((( documentary gold a brain-twisting, humorous travel which will leave you wide-eyed with a mix of wonder, admiration and disgust. Like a true-life Catch Me If You Can with chicks. Annika Priest, Melbourne Leader _______________________________________________________________ (((( A fascinating, clever documentary. Sunday Mail (Adelaide) _______________________________________________________________ (((( bewitchhooks the viewer in a gripping piece of on-the-fly filmmaking Jeff Crawford, Messenger Newspapers (Adelaide) _______________________________________________________________ (((( SBS Movie Show _______________________________________________________________ Fair minded and meticulously researched Vicky Roach, Marie Claire ______________________________________________________________ Forbidden Lie$ is a fulgurant performance, both by Khouri and director Anna Broinowski Martyn Pedlar, tercet Thousand _______________________________________________________________ Shot and constructed like a courtroom drama Susan Skelly, The Bulletin _______________________________________________________________ The real coup here is the unli mited entranceway to Khouri herself, who jumps at the opportunity to tell her side of the storythis absorbing documentary is a thought-provoking conversation starter considerably worth catching. Matt Riviera ______________________________________________________________ A compelling yarnForbidden Lie$ looks likely to endure as its subjects monument. Jake Wilson, The Age Every great villainy says something roughly the meters we live in. warren Beatty, THE HEIST pic S Y N O P S I S How often do you descend inside the mind of a con womanhood one of the best ever, according to the cabbage cop fearful to track her down? Norma Khouri is a thief, a saint, a seductress and a sociopath depending on whos talking. Men want to unify her, Islamic extremists want to kill her and the ball-shaped publishing industry wishes shed meet disappear.Those she duped with her best-selling true story about the honour killing of her best friend Dalia in Jordan, Forbidden eff, number 500,000 depicters, publishers and journalists in 15 countries. But her victims dont end in that respect. When Normas book was exposed as a fake by Australian journalist Malcolm Knox in July 2004, the world learned that Norma was not, as shed claimed on Western chatshows, a Jordanian Catholic virgin on-the-run from bloodthirsty Muslim patriarchs whod placed a fatwah on her head for her outspoken campaign against honour crimes in the Middle East, but 34 year old Norma Bagain a. . a. Touliopoulos, a married Chicago real-estate agent and mother of two, under probe since 1999 by the FBI for one million dollars of fraud. Knoxs scoop rocked the literary world and prompted the FBI to open up their files on Norma. Norma took a lie demodulator test in self defence, sued Knox for defamation, dumped her kids with ex-heroin addict and tart-with-a-heart of gold Rachel Richardson in Bribie Island Queensland, and fled to the U. S. A with $350,000 in advances still owing to her outraged Publishers. She s been in hiding ever since. And now she wants to talk.Weaving between the literary salons of London, the mosque-lined vistas of Jordan, the beachside suburbs of Queensland and the seamy Chicago backstreets of Normas dubious early(prenominal), interdict LIE$ pits Normas tale against the stories of those she conned. Theres Mary Baravikas, who died in an underfunded Chicago hospital after Norma alledgedly cashed in her life savings and stole her house. Theres Rachel Richardson, $15,000 poorer thanks to Norma, who still swears her friend is a sweet person whod oven broil pies for everyone in the street shes in force(p) got dark secrets only she can practice.And theres Normas estranged husband with alledged ties to the Chicago mob, John Toliopoulos, whom Norma claims compel her to commit her crimes at gunpoint. Meanwhile, Forbidden Love has except been released in the Arab world as fiction, Middle Eastern women continue to be murdered by male relatives in crimes of honour with apparent impunity, and Human Rights Groups have yet to receive a centime of the royalties Norma Khouri promised them.Jordanian honour crimes activist Rana Husseini, wild at the damage that Normas fake book has done to her cause, is demanding to know why the 73 f demonstrable errors in Forbidden Love slipped past publishing giants Simon & Schuster, random House and Transworld just before the Iraq invasion, when racialist potboilers about evil Muslim men with hugger-muggerly veiled women on the covers were selling like hotcakes. So who was really cashing in? Who is to blame?And does it matter that Norma lied? forbid LIE$ lets you be the judge. As we fall out Norma to Jordan to meet with deal she says will indicate that Dalia existed, that she was murdered, and that the media has lied, we also investigate Normas wrong past. Will the FBI arrest her? Is her fad to stop honour crimes genuine, or just a new con? Who do you believe, as you watch Normas weathervane of stories spinni ng ever faster, ensnaring everyone, including the filmmaker?Is she a calculating sociopath, a damaged nous craving the limelight, a genuine martyr, or simply a monster of our age, who states that if scouring and Blair can spin the rectitude about WMDs to justify bombing innocent people then why cant I spin Dalias story to save women from being murdered on a daily basis? In a spin-driven era, as the lines between truth and fiction grow increasingly blurred, FORBIDDEN LIE$ is a real-life thriller for our time. Weaving murder, deceit, greed, the East/West clash and an international literary scandal into a web that entangles us all, Norma Khouris real-life drama is even curious than her fiction.We all love watching a successful con story the to a greater extent dangerous the better. But this time, its for real. pic parable is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isnt. crossing TWAIN P R O D U C T I O N N O T E S The marriage between con-artist and filmmaker is a match made i n nirvana both use a million tiny deceits to manipulate the way we depend and feel both are in the business of making illusions real. ANNA BROINOWSKI When director Anna Broinowski read Malcolm Knoxs Sydney Morning Herald oblige exposing Norma Khouri as a hoax in July 2004, she knew shed strand the subject for her near documentary. I wanted to know what amiable of woman could be so brilliant that while on the run from the FBI she could bring to pass herself as a Jordanian virgin with a Fatwah on her head, write a best-seller, and convince the best publishing and media minds in the world that she was telling the truth. Teaming up with producer Sally Regan in early 2005, Anna invited Norma (then double-dealing low in Chicago) to fly to San Fransisco to come across the premiere of her last documentary, HELENS state of war (about anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott), at the Castro Theatre.Norma liked what she saw, and concord to tell Anna her side of the story on the condition that Anna make a film putting Honour Crimes back in the spotlight. Anna, smitten by Norma, agreed on the first day of the shoot I was telling the crew to hide their identification motorcards, that Norma was a notorious con-woman by the tercet day, Norma had convinced me that her book was not a hoax, that she was utterly genuine, and that everything the media had written about her criminal past in Chicago was a lie. She promised to take us back to Jordan to call forth her friend really was murdered how could I not believe her? Annas pilgrimage from Norma convert to con-victim is just one of some(prenominal) betrayals captured in the labyrinth of Truth and Spin that is FORBIDDEN LIE$. By the time Anna and DOP Kathryn Milliss got to Jordan with Norma (and her American body guard, Jeremey Lackowski), it was frank that Norma was taking them for a ride. Key witnesses disappeared, locations evaporated, and the actual hair salon, in which Norma had promised to introduce Da lias friends to the camera, fell a bureau when Normas mysterious cousin failed to arrive with the key. I realize I could no longer make a film vindicating Norma that this had become a portrait of a con woman whether I liked it or not, says Anna. Yet through it all, Anna and Norma have remained friends there is a sense with Norma that everything is a feeble for her, that she relishes the challenge of having to improvise when confronted, of having to convince you to believe her all over again. I cant help admiring her audacity. The films style was designed to immediately reflect the mental sleights of hand Norma plays out on her victims. Armed with a 1. million dollar budget, the filmmakers worked hard with visual effectuate company Resin and DOPs Kathryn Milliss and Toby Oliver to create CGI and in-camera illusions the expense of the round-the-world shoot was offset by filming several(prenominal) of the Jordanian scenes in Adelaide with the imaginative help of designer Robert Web b and his team. in a higher place all, the filmmakers were keen to create a real-life thriller sooner than a conventional documentary FORBIDDEN LIE$ owes more to the narrative structures of con movies like CATCH ME OF YOU CAN and fireside OF GAMES than it does to non-fiction genres. What excites me about FORBIDDEN LIE$ is that people walk out with more questions than answers. I dont know if we got to the crumb of who Norma is, I dont mobilise even Norma knows who she is, says Sally Regan. There can be no absolute finish with someone like Norma, agrees Anna. Should we judge Norma, or the spin-driven climate that allowed her to thrive? If the audience walks out less inclined to trust what they are told, by anyone, especially the filmmaker, then thats a good thing With a successful Australian release through castling in 2007, 2 AFI wins, make Ten audience votes at Hotdocs, Melbourne and Adelaide Film Festivals, international prizes including the San Francisco Golden Gate Special jury Prize and the Rome Film Fest Cult Award, and distribution deals in the US, lacquer and the Middle East, FORBIDDEN LIE$ is upstanding peoples desires to be entertainingly deceived. Even Norma, now selling car insurance and studying human rights lawfulness at night-school in Chicago, has seen the film and enjoyed it.Of course she had an outrageous new comeback to every allegation made against her but all of that is revealed in the DVD, released by Madman in April 2008 pic The public will believe anything, so long as it is not grease on the truth. Edith Sitwell T E A M ANNA BROINOWSKI ( theater director/Writer/Producer) is a NIDA playacting graduate who has been making award win films for international audiences for the past ten years. Her 2004 film Helens War portrait of a dissident (CBC/ZDF/FFC/SBS) won an Australian Film Institute award for Best Director (Documentary) and Best Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival Dendy Awards.It was nominated for a Canadian Gemini, a n Independent Film Award and an Australian Film Critics Circle award. It sold to Sundance Channel, screened stagily in Australia and the US and toured the UK as part of the 2005 British/Australian Film Festival. twain of Annas other documentaries, Hell Bento (SBS/AFC) and Sexing the say (SBS/FFC), both had theatrical releases, screened at several international film festivals, sold astray overseas, and can still be found in the cult section of Australian video stores.Annas other films are Romancing the Chakra (ABC/FFC) and the shorts Tsunami (part of the Slamdance DVD 12 godforsaken Women) and Burqa (part of the 2004 Oz feature Time to Go John. ) Annas past awards include Best Australian Documentary (Sydney Film Festival), 1 Bronze and 1 Silver governing body (Columbus Film Festival), Best Documentary (Film West) and Best Documentary Director (Films des Femmes, France). sortie REGAN (Producer) was awarded the Kenneth Myer Fellowship upon graduation from the Australian Film tele vision set and Radio School and has produced film and television in Australia, Europe, Asia and America for the past 15 years.Her documentary, First Look, won the fuji award, and her short film, Swerve, opened the Berlin Film Festival. In 1997 Sally won the AFC Distinctly Australian Script Editing award. From 1999 to 2003 Sally was line of credit Affairs Manager of Documentary occupation at Film Australia, Australias pencil lead documentary agency. Since then, she has co-produced the international Russell Crowe-narrated series The blazon of War, and produced National Treasures, Korean Anzac, Peter Berners Loaded Brush and Road to Tokyo.Sally is shortly developing a number of projects, including the feature film Axe Fall, a novel participant in the competitive NSWFTO daybreak script workshop (the development stomping ground of acclaimed Australian dramas SOMERSAULT and LITTLE FISH). We are never deceived we deceive ourselves. GOETHE pic M A I N C A S T The ArtistNorma Khouri T he PressMalcolm Knox Rana Husseini Carolean Overington Jon Yates The LawDet. Ed Torian, NYPD Frank Bochte FBI Dawn Lawkowski The FriendsRachel Richardson Kara Elliott Maree Elliott The ClanJohn ToliopoulosMajid Bagain cousin Faris Asma Bagain The LiteratiPatrick Walsh Larry Finlay David Leser The ActivistsDr. Amal al Sabbagh Nadia Shamroukh The MuscleJeremy Lackowski John Akdikman Anna Hermann The MedicsCharles v. Ford MD Dr. Mumen Hadidi Dr. Hani Jahshan Dr. Nasri Khoury The ActorsDalia Linda Mutawi Mohammed Shahin Azimi Mahmood Fariborz Zareei Michael Farhad Noori Norma Sara Azadegan M A I N C R E W Director/writerAnna Broinowski ProducersSally Regan and Anna Broinowski CinematographersKathryn Milliss and Toby Oliver ACSEditorsAlison Croft and genus Vanessa Milton Titles/CGIResin 35 mm Blow-up/additional CGITim Trumble extend design and MixCraig Carter and Peter Smith looseness designerRobert Webb Covers composerMax Sharam Completed July 2007 Format 35 mm Sound6 track Dolby Du ration 104 minutes FORBIDDEN LIE$ was produced by the Film pay Corporation Australia, produced and developed in knowledge with the New South Wales Film and Television Office, and produced in association with the South Australian Film Corporation, the Adelaide Film Festival and Palace Films.It was developed and produced with the financial tending ofthe Australian Film Commission and the Australian broadcast Corporation and developed with the financial assistance of the South Australian Film Corporation. Distributed in Australia and NZ by Palace Films. International sales by Jonathan Page of Becker International. emailprotected com. au US Theatrical release through Roxie Releasing, amour Bill Banning at emailprotected com or Rick Norris at emailprotected com and phone (415) 431 3611 pic A half truth is a complete lie. YIDDISH PROVERB