AmericanEast, a film that tells of the many pressures that Arab-Americans experience today, has completed production and is currently awaiting release this summer.

The film, which has Monk star Tony Shalhoub as one of its main characters, also presents the misunderstandings of the Arab culture. Shalhoub, who is known for his portrayal of obsessive-compulsive Adrian Monk, joined the cast of the film May last year.

Behind this venture are Sayad Badreya and Director Hesham Issawi. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Badreya, who had spent some years being cast in stereotypical villain roles (such as a hijacker, a Hezbollah gunman and an Iraqi tank commander), decided to present a story that was similar to his own. Issawi shared his sentiment and their collaboration led them to create AmericanEast.

“Our goal was really to show other people that we are no different from them,” Issawi explained. “To do that we focused on one normal guy, who just happens to be a Muslim, and we show what kind of pressure these external forces can have on a person who’s simply trying to carry on.”

Issawi also said that after the September 11 attacks, more people started to show interest in the Islam religion.

Badreya joined Monk’s Shalhoub in the cast list. He plays a family man who starts his own business (a Middle Eastern restaurant) with his Jewish best friend, played by Shalhoub.

In talking about the film with Broadway.com, Shalhoub said that it was bound to be controversial “because there's no way to raise these issues without somebody, somewhere, getting offended.”

The Monk star also said that the film “is very fair and balanced (and) kind of along the lines of Do the Right Thing in that it's about racial tensions in a city, in this case, Los Angeles. It has a lot of funny stuff in it, and disturbing things. And it has a gorgeous look. The director wanted the film to have that white-hot look of the Middle East. The central setting is this guy's coffee shop/falafel store, and they wanted it to feel like one of these places you might walk into in Cairo… It gives an interesting quality to the piece, and it has some interesting things to say.”

-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

Source: www.npr.com

(Photo Courtesy of Yahoo)