Raouf rehearsing a scenes with three actors
Preparing the camera at Walden Pond
Camera with a cinema lens
Raouf rehearsing a scenes with three actors
Preparing the camera at Walden Pond
Camera with a cinema lens
Making films that

Enlighten
educate
entertain

Learn More
Our crew

members are international

Filming a scene at Community Boating in Boston

BTS: Dream

Filming a funeral scene for "The Mourner's Wife"

BTS: The Mourner’s Wife

Production in Egypt

“My third favorite movie of all time”

“'Dating Dawn' was probably my third favorite movie of all time after ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Deer Hunter’.”

Scott Kelly

“It's OK to be weird.”

“Let’s just say the characters [in 'Dating Dawn'] are weird. And the film’s message? It’s OK to be weird.”

Bob Tremblay
MetroWest Daily News

“Pushing clichés and stereotypes”

“Pushing some clichés and stereotypes to the excess, 'Just Your Average Arab' turns post-USA Patriot Act paranoia into a comedy that makes one think how Arabs are seen nowadays in the United States.”

Emerson College Journalism Review

“Moving, educational, and funny”

“I thought ‘Just Your Average Arab’ was a moving, educational, and funny film. I showed it to all my classes.”

Susan Erickson
MFA, Central New Mexico Community College

“A Wonderful Turnout”

“Thank you for showing ‘Just Your Average Arab’ to the Bridgewater State College community. It was a wonderful turnout followed by a great discussion session.”

Dr. Jabbar Al-Obaidi
Chair of Communication Studies, Bridgewater State College

“A witty satire”

“['Just Your Average Arab' is] a witty satire that takes on the hot topic of racial profiling, while cleverly breaking down the stereotypes endured by post 9/11 Arab-Americans.”

Scott J. Thompson
Full-time Visiting Professor at Boston University

“Varied multicultural ensemble”

“['Just Your Average Arab' has] the most interesting, varied multicultural ensemble I’ve seen in a Boston-area film.”

Gerald Peary
The Boston Phoenix

“Laugh-out-loud funny”

“['Just Your Average Arab'] is laugh-out-loud funny but the message is dead serious.”

Denise Taylor
Boston Globe

“Engendered a lively discussion”

“['Santa Claus in Baghdad'] held my students’ interest and engendered a lively discussion. My students are quite ignorant of even the history of the Gulf War. In light of their ignorance, we are now doing some research to learn more about Iraq.”

JoAnn Baldwin

“Beautiful and amazing”

“['Santa Claus in Baghdad'] is beautiful and amazing. There are not enough films like this for students.”

Samira Phillips

“Watch and you will know”

“My daughter asked me what to get her father for Christmas and I told her to watch ['Santa Claus in Baghdad'] and she would know.”

Laura Bell

“Many powerful discussions”

“['Santa Claus in Baghdad'] does an amazing job of giving our students a picture not only into the life of Iraqi families, but for the life of many families across the globe in need. There were many powerful discussions around the different stories in the film both between the student body and the wider middle school community.”

John Harutunian

“Not a dry eye in the house”

“We spent a full day watching ['Santa Claus in Baghdad'] and developing classroom exercises with fifty teachers in North Carolina. There was not a dry eye in the house. This is a perfect film for schools and colleges.”

Renée Hobbs
Temple University

“Powerful and painfully relevant”

“'Fireflies' is a powerful and painfully relevant piece of short filmmaking, one that will make audiences feel decidedly unnerved for all the right reasons.”

Chris Olson
UK Film Review

“Mandatory viewing”

“For both the cinephile interested in seeing an exhibition of sheer craft as well as those who want to perceive existence through someone else’s eyes: ['Fireflies'] is mandatory viewing.”

Andrew Buckner
A Word of Dreams

“Appropriately timed and relevant”

“With what has been happening in the world recently, 'Fireflies' couldn’t be more appropriately timed and relevant if it tried.”

Carl Burgess
Screencritix

“Dramatic and timely context”

“The controversy ignited by President Trump’s attempts at banning travelers from several largely Muslim countries provides a dramatic and timely context for Holliston filmmaker Raouf Zaki’s Fireflies.”

Loren King
Boston Globe

“'Fireflies' - FilmFervor”

“If you use the alien invading your town as an archetype of the fear of your society, then your film has a message, and everybody can relate to that.”

Justin Kincaid
FilmFervor.com

“Powerful biases and truths”

“Beyond the production’s technically well-executed product — in composition, sound, and direction — 'Fireflies' speaks to powerful biases and truths that lie dormant in our society, and more importantly, within ourselves.”

Mashael Alqahtani
Medium.com

“Silent power, emotion, and reflection”

“Fifteen minutes of silent power, emotion, and reflection. That is how I describe director Raouf Zaki’s newest film, 'Fireflies', which speaks to the nature of Arab American racial profiling in America.”

Colby Cyrus
Contributing Writer, Arab America

Press coverage

Watch our founder on NBC Boston

Watch our founder on WHDH

Visit IMDB
  1. 2006
  2. 2008
  3. 2012
  4. 2017
  5. 2019
  6. 2019
  7. 2022
  8. 2022
  9. 2023

  1. “just your average arab”

    A group of Arab Americans meet in the storage room of a convenience store where they take an “Arab American Survival Guide post 9/11” class.

    Learn More

  2. “santa claus in baghdad”

    Amal is a sixteen-year old girl who has fallen a year behind in school due to illness. When she learns that her favorite teacher is leaving, she recruits her classmates to decide on a going-away present for him.

    Learn More

  3. “rebels and monks”

    A group of rogue Coptic monks revive a buried monastery while facing government resistance, church laws, and their violent neighbors in the desert.

    In the midst of this conflict, a hermit monk, who is a former disco club manager, leaves the world to join this monastery. In the end, the world finds him and he must go back to face it.

    Learn More

  4. "fireflies"

    When a withdrawn Middle Eastern man begins frequenting a Boston café, the headwaiter grows increasingly suspicious about the true nature of his visits.

    Learn more

  5. "the mourner’s wife"

    A professional mourner meets a grieving woman at a funeral and attempts to recruit her in his unusual business.

    Learn more

  6. "Singing in the Dark"

    This five-minute documentary explores the life of a blind singer, Ellis Hall, whose music has inspired thousands of people through modern history. It shows that all one needs is love and faith to create art that touches people despite all odds.

    Learn more

  7. "dream"

    An autistic man loses both parents to COVID. Now that he's alone, he decides to go out into a world that scares him and meets a blind woman that opens his eyes to what life has to offer.

    Learn more

  8. "dating dawn"

    Andrew is a simple, dignified gentleman just looking for love. But when he arrives at Debi’s home for their first date, he is unprepared for just how off the grid she lives.

    Learn more

  9. "the 21"

    This is the incredible story of faith of the 21 martyrs of Egypt. It is a testimonial by one of the martyr’s widows at El Our Church in Minya, Egypt where their bodies rest.

    This film made it to the top ten in the 2022 Film Your Faith competition at Faith Counts.

    Learn more

RA Vision Productions

Making films that enlighten, educate, and entertain