Amira and Sam
| Amira & Sam | |
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| Directed by | Sean Mullin |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | Sean Mullin |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Heather McIntosh |
| Cinematography | Daniel Vecchione |
| Edited by | Julian Robinson |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Drafthouse Films |
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Release date
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Amira & Sam is a 2014 American film written and directed by Sean Mullin and produced by Terry Leonard, Erich Lochner, and Matt Miller with executive producers James Ponsoldt, Meg Montagnino-Jarrett, and Peter Sobiloff. A romantic comedy set in New York City, the film is about Sam, an American soldier, and Amira, an illegal immigrant from Iraq. Drafthouse Cinemas has the distribution rights.
The film has several story elements, including capitalism, immigration, life after the military, and attempting to be successful in the entertainment world.
The film is set in 2008, prior to the Great Recession. Sam, a soldier who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq, meets Amira when he visits her uncle, Bassam, who had served as Sam's Iraqi translator. Bassam and Sam have a special bond due to their time together in the war. Initially Amira does not trust him because he was an American soldier and her brother was killed by a bomb from American troops in the war. Sam's cousin, Charlie, asks Sam to help him with illegal hedge funds unbeknownst to Sam at the time. Amira is staying with her uncle Bassam since her father died. She sells bootlegged films on the street corner but is forced to stay with Sam after getting busted; immigration officials begin pursuing her. As the film progresses, Sam and Amira fall in love.
Nabila Pathan of Al Arabiya wrote that the film's protagonists, Amira and Sam, both have "non-conformist" attitudes.
Sean Mullin makes a cameo as the host of a stand-up comedy routine in which Sam performs.
Mullin, a former member of the New York Army National Guard, had performed stand-up comedy and was a first responder in the September 11 attacks. He decided to create the film after hearing about friends in the U.S. military trying to get asylum for their Iraqi translators.
Much of the film was shot on Staten Island.
Shihabi and Naikli used an Iraqi dialect coach, one of Nakli's friends, to refine their Arabic. Shihabi's native dialect is a form of Levantine Arabic while she used Iraqi Arabic in the film.
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Wikipedia