Coming Around follows 28-year-old second-generation Palestinian-Egyptian Brooklynite Eman as she weighs the decision to come out to her devout Muslim mother. Having grown up in Columbia, Missouri with her mother and sister, the three women share a unique tight-knit bond that Eman desperately wants to maintain. But despite being a scholar and visibly “out” among her queer Muslim friends, Eman sits uncomfortably in silence when it comes to her mother. To postpone coming out, she decides to marry her current boyfriend, Q, to give the appearance of strictly hetero relationship interests. The story captures how she struggles with this decision and consequently navigates the opposing expectations of her multiple identities. The main arc of the film is one epic drive from St. Louis airport to Columbia on the evening that Eman comes out, and the film unfolds between that drive and the events that lead up to it, crisscrossing past, present, and future timelines within a frame of non-linearity. 

World Premiere at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (nominated for the Golden Alexander in the Newcomers Competition).

North American Premiere at DOXA Documentary Film Festival (nominated for the Nigel Moore Youth Award).

U.S. Premiere at Frameline Film Festival (nominated for the Frameline Juried Award for Outstanding Doc and Frameline Audience Award for Best Documentary).

Los Angeles Premiere at Outfest Film Festival.

New York Premiere at NewFest (Audience Award Winner for Best Documentary Feature).

Supported by:

Gotham Documentary Feature Lab & Gotham Week
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship
Brooklyn Arts Council
Berlinale Diversity and Inclusion DocSalon
DOK Leipzig / DOK Industry
Hot Docs Distribution Rendezvous
Outfest Industry
Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
Only in New York DOC NYC
Seed&Spark
p.h. balanced films