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Coming Around
TYPE: Documentary Feature
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Post-Production
LOGLINE
A young, queer Muslim woman is grappling with the decision to come out to her devout mother, and ends up marrying her boyfriend to evade her mother’s silent disapproval.
SYNOPSIS
28-year-old scholar Eman Abdelhadi is a second generation Palestinian-Egyptian woman living in Brooklyn, NY. She finds herself grappling with the decision to come out to her religious mother, even though she has left hints time and time before. To prolong coming out, Eman marries her current boyfriend to give the appearance of strictly straight relationship interests. The story unfolds through intimate vérité scenes and captures how Eman struggles to navigate the expectations of all sides of her identity. Despite fearing she might push her mother away, Eman sets off on a journey of self-realization as new opportunities unfold in direct response.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
Through intimate access and nuanced storytelling, COMING AROUND rejects the sensationalized “coming out story” where the film’s success hinges on this moment. Instead, it is a story that reveals the often unseen intricacies involved in deciding whether to come out, especially in religious communities and marginalized communities of color.
KEY CREW
Sandra Itäinen - Director, Producer, Editor
Sandra Itainen is a Finnish film director and editor based in New York City. Documentary editing credits include TOMBOY (SXSW, 2020) and award-winning KELET (DocPoint, 2020). She directed and edited the short documentary series NOITAPIIRIT (eng. COVENS) for Finnish YLE (2021). Sandra is currently working on her directorial feature debut NOT IN MY MOTHER’S HOUSE (working title), which has received support from the Gotham Documentary Feature Lab, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program, Berlinale Diversity and Inclusion DocSalon, DOK Leipzig / DOK Industry, Brooklyn Arts Council, among others. Sandra’s first documentary short THE WEAVEOLOGIST (2016) screened at multiple film festivals, i.a. DOC NYC. Sandra is the associate producer of DARK MONEY (dir. Kimberly Reed) which premiered at Sundance 2018, nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Before moving into film, Sandra worked as a journalist for YLE. She works to amplify women’s voices through filmmaking, and focuses mainly on themes revolving around identity and family through a millennial lens. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film from School of Visual Arts and an MSS from the University of Helsinki.
Chelsi Bullard - Producer
Chelsi Bullard is an independent documentary director, producer and editor based in Brooklyn, NY. Her interests are rooted in stories that tackle the human rights issues of our time, with a focus on youth, people of color and debunking inaccurate histories of folx who have been disenfranchised. Directing credits include the short documentaries ON THE LEDGE (DOC NYC, 2017) and HIDDEN WISDOM (Socially Relevant Film Festival, 2016). She is currently producing the feature documentary NOT IN MY MOTHER’S HOUSE (directed by Sandra Itainen). The film was a part of the 2020 Gotham Documentary Feature Lab and Gotham Week 2020. Editing credits include the short documentary I WAS HERE FIRST (DOC NYC, 2015), NINE-STORY MOUNTAIN (Art & Tourism Int’l Film Festival ‘Religious Tourism’ 1st Prize Winner, 2014) and PRAYERS OF THE ANCIENT ONES (Public Broadcast - PBS/KQED, 2013). She is currently editing the upcoming feature documentary THE RIGHT TO READ (directed by Jenny Mackenzie) and directing her feature directorial debut KIDS CAN SPIT. She has garnered support from Chicken & Egg Pictures, the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fdn, the Denver Film Society and others for the project.
Uwa Iduozee - Cinematographer
Uwa Iduozee is a Finnish-Nigerian filmmaker, cinematographer and documentary photographer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. His recent multidisciplinary project THEY WALKED ON WATER has exhibited at multiple venues, including the 2021 Helsinki Biennial and The Festival of Political Photography, and his photo project Blind Spot(s) was exhibited at the Helsinki Museum of Photography in 2021. In 2020 he was the Director of Photography on the film TRUMPIN AMERIKAN TULEVAISUUS (engl. The Future of Trump's America) which aired nationally in Finland. Iduozee has directed and shot multiple short films for the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, and his first short film A PART OF MOM won the short documentary category at the international 2017 College Photographer of the Year competition. Iduozee has graduated from The New School’s Documentary Studies Master’s program and holds a Bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Tampere.
Sarah A Ibrahim - Composer
Utilizing sound, score, and image, Sarah A Ibrahim creates work that explores the geographies of the interior, grief and the diaspora, and the political as personal. Sarah is a Black American/Kuwaiti/Indonesian multidisciplinary artist, born and raised in Kuwait and now based in Los Angeles, CA.
Rabab Haj Yahya - Consulting Editor
Rabab Haj Yahya is an Emmy-nominated documentary editor and a Sundance Edit and Story Lab Fellow. Her recent work includes the THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED (Tribeca 2018), award-winning feature documentary SPEED SISTERS (HotDocs 2015), LOVE THE SINNER (Tribeca 2017) and the web series THE SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS (Peabody Finalist, Vox and USA Today, 2016). Rabab has also edited numerous documentaries commissioned by the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, including ENEMIES OF THE SOUTH (2015), which was featured in multiple prime-time slots on the network. In between projects, Rabab has dedicated a significant amount of her time helping aspiring editors and filmmakers, through training and pro-bono consultations in the Middle East, West Africa, and the Balkans. Rabab speaks English, Arabic, and Hebrew fluently and currently lives in New York.
Deborah Dickson - Consulting Producer
Deborah Dickson is an award-winning and three times Oscar-nominated director, producer and editor, best known for Ruthie and Connie: Every Room in the House (2002), LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton (2001) and Christo in Paris (1990).
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