SWEET REFUGE

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MARYAM MIR 
STARRING LAITH NAKLI (from Hulu’s RAMY) AND MAHIRA KAKKAR (from Broadway’s LIFE OF PI)

A passionate Syrian baker spends his first Eid in the US attempting to sell the sweet he has spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. As he roams the streets of Brooklyn, he bumps into a savvy Indian ladoo maker, who appears to have figured out how to appeal to one of New York's most coveted customers: Health-conscious Brooklynites.

Sweet Refuge was initially inspired by a recently resettled 76-year-old Syrian baker I worked with in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in 2017, who spoke to his sweets like they were old friends. 

It was also sparked by my experiences growing up South Asian in the Middle East, two cultures that often live side by side, but not always together. Yet, when I moved to the US for college, I noticed how, where both Arabs and South Asians were often Othered, suddenly there was also space for us to relate. I’m particularly interested in how this translates to food and our shared longing and desire to preserve (and reimagine) the desserts we left behind.

- Maryam Mir

 


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PARTNERS

 

CAST

Laith Nakli


Hakim

Laith Nakli is a Syrian actor/writer. He graduated from the prestigious William Esper Studio Professional Actor Training Program. Laith made his stage debut in War at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Company. Other credits include Cry of the Reed –Huntington, Inana – Denver Center, Aftermath - NYTW, Lidless – Page 73,  Food & Fadwa  – NYTW and  Cyrano -- Goodspeed.

Laith is one of the regular characters in the HULU series Ramy.

Mahira Kakkar


Sakina

Mahira Kakkar is a multi lingual actress and writer. Select stage credits include the premiere of Monsoon Wedding with Mira Nair, Clive with Ethan Hawke, Ms. Witherspoon with Christopher Durang and Jesus in India with Lloyd Suh. Most recently, she appeared as a lead in A Suitable Boy (BBC, Netflix India) and a recurring on Manifest (NBC, US). Additional TV credits: New Amsterdam, Law and Order:CI, Odd Mom Out, Orange is the New Black and others.

Film work includes Hank and Asha (Slamdance Audience Favorite, Napa Valley Film Festival Best Actress), Hechki, and Bite Me. She has worked extensively in regional theater. Training: Juilliard. Upcoming: New Golden Age (Primary Stages).

 

TEAM

Maryam Mir


Writer / Director

Maryam Mir is a writer/director currently pursuing her MFA in Film Production at NYU Tisch, where she is an Ang Lee Scholar. As a Kashmiri-Canadian born in Germany, raised in Bahrain, with Kenyan ancestry, Maryam has always found inspiration in stories that explore migration in all its fullness as well as fractures. She is a recipient of Tisch's inaugural HEAR US award, designed to celebrate and advance student projects that center BIPOC voices, and her previous short film, Birdwatching, was an official selection at the International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA’21) and the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF44).

Sara Balghonaim


Producer

Sara Balghonaim is a Saudi filmmaker based between Riyadh and New York. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A at New York University in Directing and Writing. Before her time at NYU, she worked for director Haifa Al Mansour as an Assistant Director on The Perfect Candidate. She was also an Assistant Director on several notable Saudi films like The Rat, The Last Visit, and Black Sand. In 2019, Sara starred in Dunya’s Day, winner of the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Sara is currently in post-production for Aydarous & Me, a short film she recently directed and wrote at NYU.

Aya Hamdan


Producer

Aya Hamdan is a Palestinian-Bahraini filmmaker and producer based in Brooklyn, NY.  She leverages her tech background and her commitment to diversity in the media to highlight underrepresented voices. She co-produced DUNYA’S DAY, which won the short film Jury Award for International Fiction at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Her short documentary, BALADNA screened at the 2019 DOC NYC film festival.

Chheangkea Leng


Cinematographer

Chheangkea Leng is a Cambodian-American filmmaker based in New York, NY. He is currently in his third year as a Dean’s Fellow in the NYU Tisch Graduate Film program where he specializes in writing/directing and cinematography. Prior to film school, Chheangkea received his Bachelor degree in Architectural Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He put those visual skills to practice at NYU, having served as the cinematographer for several short films: Memory Frame, Suga, A Kind of Crime, and Two or More. Chheangkea dreams of creating a cinematic world full of complex individuals who have never seen themselves on screen.

Rhea D'Souza


Production Designer

Rhea D'Souza is a production designer from Mumbai, India with an innate desire to birth worlds by balancing the honesty of humanity with the magic of film making. An architect of dreams, she thrives in collaborations with multi-disciplinary artists, always allowing the story to guide her process. After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked on Bollywood films like Gully Boy, A Death in the Gunj, Tumhari Sulu etc. and on commercials and photoshoots for brands like Nestle, Vogue, United Colors of Benetton etc. Currently based in New York, she has completed her masters in Production Design from NYU Tisch School of the Arts (2021).

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