If you’re in the mood for more queer romantic comedies, you’re in look. In January, Breaking Fast will hit screens.
Haaz Sleiman stars as Mo, a gay practicing Muslim who lives in West Hollywood. Mo is reeling from heartbreak, and headed into Ramadan, when he meets Kal (Michael Cassidy.) He invites Kal to break fast with him each night with Iftars, which is the traditional meal eaten during Ramadan.
The film won Best Narrative Feature at OUTfest on the festival circuit. It also features three different Muslim characters, all of whom have reconciled their faith with their sexual orientation. For filmmaker Mike Mosallam, it was important to show the ways in which queer Muslims can find balance in the intersections of their identities. He does this without making Breaking Fast into a coming out story or using it to center trauma.
Sleiman, who is Lebanese-American has often talked about this duality. In 2019 he sat down with Out to talk about what it’s like to be a “gay Arab actor in Hollywood.”
“I come from love” he said at the time. “I just want to enlighten and empower and inspire, show the truth of humanity, not just gay and Arab, but bigger than all of that. There are so many things we’re ashamed about. We are not allowed the fullness to be human. For me, if you’re gay or a woman or a person of color, it’s about showing the truth of that, and making sure whoever is watching wants to embrace that.”
Sleiman has also revealed that he will play the husband of Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos in the now-delayed The Eternals. The pair will share a kiss and have two children.
Breaking Fast will debut on January 22, 2021.
Via Out
Be the first to reply