Here I am again with one of the few trailers available for films screening at Sundance this week. It’s for a Jordanian film titled Captain Abu Raed, and it comes with the prestige of having already won a Best Actor Award at the 2007 Dubai International Film Festival for Nadim Sawalha, who plays the title character. It also comes with a heartwarming plot involving an airport janitor and the group of young boys who mistake him for a pilot. Yes, we could say this kind of story is a generic one in world cinema, but there’s no denying the appeal of an old man imparting hope and wisdom on a new generation. There’s good reason the theme continues to be reworked time and time again.

As I previously touched on when reviewing the trailer for The King of Ping Pong, regardless of how mainstream a foreign film may seem to me, I’d rather check out something like Captain Abu Raed at Sundance than any of the star-studded American films on display. This particular film’s universal appeal makes it possible that some distributor could one day give it a release in my neck of the woods, but I’d rather not chance it. As much as I hate that it takes so long for American indies to go from Sundance to the local movie theater, I find it more worthwhile to look for gems that might never make it at all. If you’re at least curious about Captain Abu Raed, then visit the film’s website and writer-director-producer Amin Matalga’s blog detailing his “journey” through the making of film.

Captain Abu Raed has its Sundance premiere this evening at 6 PM at the Egyptian Theatre. It plays again at Holiday Village tomorrow morning at 9:15 AM, at the Library on Friday evening at 5:30 PM and at the Sundance Resort Screening Room on Saturday at noon.