By Bob Tremblay/Daily News Staff

Director-producer Raouf Zaki has just completed “Dating Dawn,” a comedy short where a man looks for love in all the wrong places. These include a chicken coop, a greenhouse and a shed.

The Holliston filmmaker is also working on “Rebels and Monks,” a feature-length documentary about the Coptic Christian monks of Wadi El-Rayan who are trying to save their monastery from destruction in Egypt.

Zaki’s film resume doesn’t lack for variety. His previous films include “Santa Claus in Baghdad” about an Iraqi brother and sister who get caught up in the sprit of Christmas despite being Muslims, and “Just Your Average Arab,” a comedy designed to deflate the stereotypical image of Arab-Americans as religious zealots and terrorists.

All of Zaki’s films have been shot in MetroWest, though he did travel to his native Egypt to shoot street and background scenes that were incorporated into “Santa Claus in Baghdad” through green-screen techniques. That movie was shot primarily in Framingham.

For “Dating Dawn,” Zaki and crew filmed at Little Beehive Farm in Holliston, Tangerini’s Spring Street Farm in Millis and other locations in Holliston and Milford. The 15-minute film was shot last month in five days on a micro-budget with many people on the 35-person crew working for free.

Zaki found the script, penned by Jason K. Allen of Nashville, on the InkTip website and optioned it. The film centers around Andrew played by Rosario Corso of Rehoboth, who goes on a series of blind dates with four sisters, Debi, Donna, Denise and Dawn, all played by Noelle P. Wilson of New York City. Let’s just say the characters are weird. And the film’s message? It’s OK to be weird.

“I love the freedom of working in comedy where you can run with an idea and improvise it when the writer gives you the freedom,” says Zaki. “Since I’m hoping to shoot a futuristic comedy next, I thought, ‘Great, let’s jump into a short.’ It’s good training.”

The film also provided a break from the aforementioned documentary, a seven-year, labor-of love project that Zaki, who is a Coptic Christian himself, is in the process of editing.

For “Dating Dawn,” Zaki lauded all those who worked on the film and provided resources for it. “It was a wonderful experience and it provided people with the experience of making a film,” he said.

The crew included his wife, Hana, as co-producer, Rajah Samaroo of Rhode Island as director of photography, Colleen McQuaid of Pembroke as production manager, Jennifer Gjulameti of Worcester as co-producer, Jennifer Potts of Fitchburg as production designer and Deborah Rosencrantz of Maynard as costume designer.

Following a month and a half of auditioning, Zaki cast Wilson. “She auditioned in her room in New York via Skype,” says the filmmaker. “She had the range to play all four sisters differently, and she made us laugh and that’s the most important thing you’re looking for when you’re casting for comedy because comedy relies completely on performance. It’s all about timing, and being hilarious, not just funny. If you’re not laughing when you’re auditioning, you won’t be laughing when you’re filming.”

For the role of Andrew, an actor from New York had been cast, but when it turned out he was too tall, the search resumed with McQuaid suggesting Corso, who was a college friend of hers. He got the part, his first lead role. “He was excited,” says Zaki.

The film is being edited now with Zaki hoping for a springtime release with the premiere taking place either in Framingham and Holliston. It will be a community affair, he promises.

In addition to being a filmmaker, Zaki runs RA Vision Productions in Framingham, a company he founded that specializes in all aspects of video production for private and corporate clients. Money earned from these productions helps pay for his film projects. The company is named after the ancient Egyptian sun god. Zaki also has served as director of photography on other people’s films.

Born and raised in Cairo, Zaki came to the United States at 17 to study, graduating with a film degree from Boston University. After moving to Framingham in 1998, Zaki founded RA Vision. In 2010, he moved to Holliston with Hana and their children, David, 19, and Justine, 18.

Having made films portraying Arabs in a positive light, Zaki has little good to say about those doing the opposite following the recent Paris attacks by ISIS. “The political climate is pretty crazy and pretty scary right now,” he says. “I’m not a Muslim, but I always get mistaken for one. It’s part of the Middle Eastern package.

“I was recently standing in a pizza line and I asked the man to wear gloves because I was afraid of contamination and the man refused to wear gloves. Someone else, looking at me and my wife, then said, ‘What don’t you like about our pizza? Don’t we buy your oil?’ I froze. I was very humiliated by that. Words can be more hurtful than arrows and I lost it. I was very angry at the man.

“My wife, who is from Lebanon, told me what I should have said was, ‘Oil? You want oil? I have some extra virgin olive oil in my car. We have the best olive oil in Lebanon.’”

“But I write these things down as a filmmaker, as an artist. They hurt, but if I use comedy to raise awareness in this country, we can laugh at them and then learn from them. That’s the beauty of these things. So I’m taking notes. I’m writing down what’s happening to me and my family for my next comedy film.”

Expect more stereotypes to be skewered.

“I love storytelling,” Zaki continues. “I also love the fact, for better or worse, that I need to be telling stories about my own culture at this time. I feel I need to tell these stories.

“And making a film is a thrilling event. It’s an amazing team process. It’s the people around you who make the film. You connect with people when you make a film. I love that part. When you connect with people, you share ideas. That’s the wonderful element in all of this.”