2010. 90 minute feature film.


In a country from which so many of its people long to escape an American must find a way to stay.

"A serendipitous twist of fate brought Jackie and I together as friends and colleagues in 2003. It was many years after I had left my homeland Jordan and not too long after she returned to it in search of her roots. My eyes were opened to the provocative life of a woman whose American upbringing and Arab background clashed and coincided in ways my imagination could never have pictured. Particularly her experiences with cab drivers, whose own escape plans to a brighter future in the West included asking her hand in marriage as casually as if they were asking for a cigarette."

Jackie and the 40 Yellow Cabs is this celebration - two cultures clashing during the most mundane activities and finding resolution in the most profound manners.

In April 2005, after test-shooting several scenes of the film, Al Massad realized the uniqe ride that he had to go through with Jackie and her 40 Yellow Cabs. The improvised story around her real-life experiences - an American in the process of finding herself in Jordan - should be more than Jackie Sawir's story.