Cast
AS Steven Bassem
Karim Saleh
was born in 1978 in Lyon, France and moved to Beirut in 1980 with his parents at the height of the Lebanese Civil War. Raised between East and West Beirut, his sense of identity was forged in a fragmented place. He moved to London in 1997 to study at The Academy Of Live and Recorded Arts, from which he was kicked out a term before the diploma. His career began when Egyptian director Youssry Nassrallah introduced him to Andy Litvack, who was directing his first film, produced by Merchant and Ivory. His first lead was in The Hamburg Cel, which was directed by Antonia Bird and received international acclaim, including an Emmy nomination for HBO and led to roles for directors Steven Spielberg in Municyh and Ridley Scott in Kingdom of Heaven. Other film work included The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, The Attack, 45 Minutes to Ramallah, and Iron Man 2. Karim works between London, Paris, the USA and the Middle East.
AS LAYLA BASSEM
Mona Hala
is an Egyptian actress, comedian and YouTube video blogger. She studied German language in the Faculty of Alsun, an Egyptian school offering License degrees in multiple languages. Mona embarked on her career with the children's show alla Bin, the Arabic translation of "Let's Go." Her next major step was her role in l Basha Telmi, an Egyptian movie. After that, she took more prominent roles in many Egyptian movies and TV shows. Hala gave a sensitive performance in 2010's Cairo Time, which was directed by Ruba Nadda and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Mona recently came under fire for comments she made in a television interview about her support of gay rights around the world and in the Middle East.
AS NAMOUR HANNA
Wedad Abdou
is a recently retired astrophysicist from NASA. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, she was educated in London and Baghdad. Namour is Abdou's acting debut.
as tamara bassem
Nicole Haddad
is New York based actress whose feature film credits include The Wolves of Savin Hill, A Dangerous Place and Detour. On television she has been featured on HBO's Flight of the Conchords, NBC's M.O.N.Y. directed by Spike Lee, as well as a reaccuring role on As The World Turns.
AS NABIL BASSEM
Waleed F. Zuaiter
is a Palestinian American actor whose film and television career progressed from the attention he received from his fine stage work. In film, Waleed had standout roles in Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare At Goats, alongside George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, and Michael Patrick King’s Sex and the City 2, as well as starring in Omar, nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, which he produced with his two brothers and their company ZBROS. Other feature credits include Simon West’s Thunder Run and Amin Matalqa’s The United. On the small screen, Waleed’s garnered much attention for his portrayal of Sgt. Brody’s torturer in Homeland. Among his many TV credits: The Good Wife, Political Animals, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Blue Bloods, and the Emmywinning miniseries, House of Saddam. Waleed’s prestigious theater credits include the Public’s Theatre’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage (adapted by Tony Kushner and starring also Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline), Eliam Kralem’ Sixteen Wounded (Broadway), David Hare’s Stuff Happens (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance), George Packer’s Betrayed, Ilan Hastor’s Maske, Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul, Victoria Brittain & Gillian Slovo’ Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, and David Greig’s The American Pilo.
AS GABI
Melina Lizette
At the age of 13, Melina Lizette was already singing and dancing all over the DC and Baltimore area. She received her BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and moved to Los Angeles shortly after. After garnering TV credits on CSI:NY, the WB series Love 15 and also starring in numerous independent films including recent festival hit French Dirty, she began to nurture her passion for storytelling. While continuing her career as an actress, she’s now also a screenwriter and freelance producer with numerous projects in development. She is a proud member of the collective of female filmmakers known as Film Fatales.
AS THOMAS
Lavrenti Lopes
is originally from India and trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York as well at UCB East. Since relocating to Los Angeles, he has worked on various TV shows including New Girl, Don't Trust the B, The Wedding Band, and a Comedy Central pilot. He has also played the lead in various independent films including Love, Lies and Seeta, subHysteria, Desperate Endeavors and Afghan Hound. He most recently played the lead character of Nitin in The Mad Ones slated to premiere at Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival.