If I Die in America
2024 · 15m · USA
Directed by Ward Kamel
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
After Manny's immigrant husband Sameer dies in an accident, he is confronted by a representative of Sameer's family urging him to sign paperwork to ship the body back to Kuwait for Muslim burial—forcing a devastating clash between spousal rights and cultural tradition in the midst of grief.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Queer Muslim widower fighting in-laws over the corpse — this is exactly the SXSW-Hollyshorts-Newfest pipeline screenplay and I bet the camera doesn't move once. Important subject, probably tasteful to a fault.
Kamel's SXSW-premiered scenario locates grief precisely at an intersection that cinema has barely visited, recalling Isabel Sandoval's attentiveness to bureaucratic violence in Lingua Franca. A premise that promises rare specificity.
SXSW world premiere plus Palm Springs, HollyShorts, NewFest, Philly, and SOTW for a 15-minute contained grief drama — Gil Perez-Abraham anchoring the queer-Muslim burial conflict means the film is staking everything on performance. The crew sheet (DP Eryurekli, full producer team) reads like a real festival contender.
Reviews
Ward's film raises a type of discrimination that isn't discussed much: the kind that occurs even after death and during grief. Gil Perez-Abraham is fantastic at showing his character's pain through it all.
Ward Kamel's beautiful and devastating short film tackles this question with searing aplomb.
Festivals
- SXSW Film Festival 2024
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2024
- HollyShorts Film Festival 2024
- NewFest 2024
- Philadelphia Film Festival 2024