If my 20s were a movie, then this video is the happy ending that I couldn't have possibly
imagined yet hoped for more than anything.
8 years ago, I decided to drop out of a full scholarship to university to pursue a dream
with 3 guys I had just met.
I had this profound belief that what we were creating would positively impact the world.
But at that point, that's not at all what my family back in Egypt is seeing.
What they saw from their perspective was a confused young man, about to throw away years
of hard work and dedication he had put into getting the opportunity to live and study
abroad, which is extremely challenging where we come from.
And to top it off, this absurd risk is being taken with a bunch of guys he had just met.
I get it.
It all must have looked insanely incomprehensible to them.
But as I said, I had an unshakable belief in what we were building and nothing was going
to change that.
Over the following years, my relationship with my family, especially my dad, got progressively
more complicated.
The gap in culture and traditions between the life I was leading and where I came from
became too hard for my dad to accept.
And in 2018, it reached a tipping point.
Out of respect for my family, I'd prefer not to repeat mentioning that moment. I've shared enough about it over the years and I want to create space for a new story.
Okay so now 5 years of many ups and downs later, the most unexpected thing happened.
But since you saw the title and thumbnail of this video before clicking on it, then
I imagine you know where this is going.
So yes, a reunion with my family for the first time in 6 years is what's about to happen,
but the way it happened was the unexpected part.
And here's how it all came together.
After pouring everything I've got for the past couple years in this film, it felt quite
weird that I got to share it with thousands of people on a world tour, but not with my
own family.
None of the countries that hosted our premiere tour would give my family visas, so we decided
to bring one closer to them.
And Dubai was the place to do it.
In my mind, given the very minimal relationship that I've had with my dad for the past 5 years,
I thought there was no way he would actually even consider this invitation.
And I just expected my mom, my sister, and her baby to come and join me for this moment.
But to my complete surprise, he said yes.
Which meant that I was about to see him for the first time since I left Egypt in 2017,
and a new chapter in my life was about to begin.
I've had moments over the last month where I would randomly get emotional just imagining
what the moment would be like.
But right now, I just gotta go do it.
I've consumed all the energy I have to imagine what it could be.
For me to be reuniting with my family, especially my dad, over my proudest, biggest, most meaningful
work, the one I started this whole journey for, all the decisions and all the sacrifices
that I made, it was for to be able to do this and for it to be bringing us back is just
beautiful and I'm blessed.
It like hits me and I don't know what to do with it.
Okay, so we just got a message.
Ammar's sister said we are coming, so they're here in just a couple of minutes.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, I see them, I think.
I see them.
You were born for this moment, man, to reunite with your family and you know they're here.
because they love you.
Alright.
- How are you doing, my dear son? - I'm fine, Alhamdulillah.
God bless you.
All is good.
Staffan.
How are you doing, Ammar?
Alhamdulillah.
- How are you doing? - I'm fine.
Yaseen, Yaseen!
How are you?
Ammar! Go to your uncle Ammar now.
Come to your uncle.
I've got the passports.
Ammar decided to put down the cameras for the next 24 hours
to be present with his family in this special moment.
This is Uncle Stefan on duty right now,
Joining in my brother who's straight from the army. How are you?
They organized a surprise for you tomorrow!
Ammar is a big inspiration for us
when it comes to going up in the sky.
We would like to
Challenge you
Invite you
Open the door
To go on a helicopter.
The next day.
Nice hat as well. Seek discomfort.
It happened yesterday, I explained what Seek Discomfort is to my dad for the first time in my life and it resonated, he got it.
Have you been in a helicopter before?
No, it's my first time.
Excited?
Yeah.
I literally can't believe this right now.
I'm with my family in a helicopter.
That's my dad up there.
Take a picture with me.
You want to take a picture too with your son?
I tell him: I am Ammar's father.
You can take a picture with me.
Wow!
Nice to meet you.
Your son is a huge inspiration.
- Huge inspiration - He's a number one fan.
I'm happy to meet you.
Happy to meet you.
Do you want a photo with dad?
And now he said he wants a t-shirt
where it says "I'm Ammar's dad".
That's big words.
I think it's going to take a moment for it to just...
I mean I've gone from six years of nothing
to then all of a sudden he's seeing all of it.
I'm explaining what Seek Discomfort is, I'm explaining everything.
I'm explaining what my life is, what I did.
I'm showing him these big milestones on videos that he has no idea.
I like this scene. Send it to me.
It all feels like a dream.
- A good dream. - Yeah, yeah.
The most amazing dream.
Day of Iceman Premiere.
Okay, so Ammar, there is someone's birthday today.
So we got you some balloons, man.
Happy birthday, man.
Best birthday ever.
Is papa ready for the premiere?
He's saying, are you ready to watch the movie today?
Absolutely!
Tell him that I'm the most excited
among them to watch the movie.
Thank you guys for organizing all of this.
Honestly, they went above and beyond for us
We're happy to be here but happier to meet them.
There's a saying that goes:
"The secret isn't the journey
but rather who you share the journey with"
And today this saying applies to us.
Wow.
Yeah.
My dad just repeated what I said at every single premiere and I have never heard him say that.
- Wow. - Wow.
Thank you.
I came because I'm a huge fan of the journey that Project Iceman took.
I love how they stayed independent, stayed true to who they were.
The transition from being creators on YouTube, coming and making a documentary that's in festivals now.
It's a huge inspiration to content creators around the world and it sets a new bar for us all.
Wishing the team all the best and this documentary all the best, Inshallah.
Inshallah.
You want to get a close-up of this?
Hello, family.
Dad said something earlier.
You said that you like Seek Discomfort and you said you wanted a t-shirt saying Ammar's dad.
I appreciate you so much!
So, yeah.
I will wear it on the streets and everybody will ask me for photos
He's saying he's going to wear it on the street and then everybody's going to be taking photos with him.
Yeah.
It's fine.
What's happening?
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to the first ever premiere of Project Iceman in the Middle East.
The director of Project Iceman, the director Habibi and the Iceman himself, Iceman.
Thank you, everybody.
As some of you may have noticed, I walked in with my family.
Which was the first reunion with them that is six years and my mom in four years.
This moment just marks a new beginning where my proudest and most meaningful work gets to be shared with them,
with you all today, my part of the world, and the amazing generosity that came with it.
It looks like things are starting.
All right.
He could believe in himself when nobody else did.
He now knows that that voice comes from the truth.
Thank you.
I just want to thank you all for being here with us today.
It's the most special day of my life to be here and sharing it with family today.
Everybody that is a part of the Iceman is an extended family and I'm just really proud to be here with you today
and be doing this one last time before we put it out for the whole world.
I would like to commend Anders on his great effort
to deliver this message for the youth and kids all over the world
on not letting anyone drag you down when you're still young.
What Anders did was the perfect response
to those who discourage or put down others around them.
So, I salute him.
And of course, I won't be able to commend Ammar.
on his efforts, as I'm his father so I'll be biased,
But I really want ot tell you that you did a great job.
Thank you.
It's taken four long years of working on Project Iceman
and six years of building Yes Theory without going back home to Egypt once to get to this point today.
No words can describe how I feel after watching that.
It was beyond extraordinary.
I cried. I laughed. Everything.
So much emotion.
- I cried too.
- Yeah. - Wow
Makes us cry and cry.
Oh my God. There are no words right now.
There are no words.
To see my parents be so deeply touched by the film and its message was the biggest confirmation
that this film is for everyone in the world despite their culture, background or interests.
My parents couldn't understand over 90% of the dialogue but they still fully understood what the film meant to do.
For me to have made a film that made my dad cry.
Yeah.
Good doing business with you. I'm outta here
There's truly something in the story for everyone to relate to.
That's why we decided to release the film in the most accessible way the world has ever seen
for a project of this scale and budget.
So now I'm honored to share with all of you that on Christmas Eve of this year,
Project Iceman will be Yes Theory's holiday gift to the world as the final upload of 2023 on this channel.
But if you don't want to wait and would rather watch it right away, we've made it available for streaming on theicemanfilm.com on a pay-what-you-can model.
Meaning that you will get to decide the amount you pay to watch the film starting at $5.
The money raised will allow us to do three things.
One, cover the remaining costs since we're still hundreds of thousands of dollars in the negative.
Two, prove that we do not need big streaming platforms to tell big scale stories.
Three, enable the free release of the film on YouTube at the end of December.
When we're making this film, when I'm making anything that I make, I'm always thinking about children, I'm always thinking about kids.
And for the film to be going out in a way ultimately that does not put a barrier between anyone in the world and watching this film except for an internet connection.
That to me is like the greatest, when my proudest moment.
And it was like a very conscious decision from the beginning that that's where we want the film to be ultimately for everyone to enjoy.
I want to say thank you to everyone who's been a part of my journey, part of the Yes Theory journey, and the Iceman journey.
There is thousands of you out there who've empowered us to be where we are today.
You've all been my family away from family.
One thing I know, the best is yet to come.
Inshallah.
Love over fear.
Please go watch Project Iceman and comment back here what you thought.
Thanks for making it this far :)