Sweet Refuge

Directed by Maryam Mir

Length: 11:40
Producer: Sara Balghonaim / Aya Hamdan
Editor: Maryam Mir
Cinematographer: Chheangkea Ieng
Sound Designers: Lee Salevan

Synopsis: A Syrian baker spends his first Eid in the US attempting to sell the sweet he has spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. This short film follows a recently resettled Syrian baker as he tries to sell his famed walnut baklava in his new neighborhood of Brooklyn. On the way, he meets an Indian sweet-maker selling her healthy ladoos on the street. At first, they clash, but when they later discover they share a key ingredient and perhaps, a similar story, they form a hopeful connection. It's a short film about finding home and belonging in a new and sometimes, foreign, place.  

Graduate
mkm659@nyu.edu

Maryam Mir is a writer/director currently pursuing her MFA in Film at NYU. As a Kashmiri-Canadian born in Germany and raised in Bahrain, Maryam finds inspiration in stories that center the immigrant experience in all its joy, delight and magic. At Tisch, she is a recipient of the Ang Lee Scholarship ‘21 and the inaugural HEAR US award, a student competition designed to celebrate and advance student projects that center BIPOC voices. Her latest short film, Sweet Refuge is currently in post-production, starring Laith Nakli (from Hulu’s RAMY) & Mahira Kakkar (from Netflix’s MANIFEST). 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) and her previous work has been featured in the American Muslim Futures Exhibit curated by the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design. Prior to film school, she was an Open City fellow at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and worked as a consultant in Dubai and New York for five years.