''Alia's Birth'' is a 2021 independent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

Sam Abbas Sam Abbas (Arabic language, Arabic: سام عباس; born 11 November 1993) is an Egyptian Americans, Egyptian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is noted for his artfully composed, poetic, and incident-light tableaus film sty ...

starring

Poorna Jagannathan Poorna Jagannathan ( ; born December 22, 1972) is an American producer and actress. She is known for her portrayal of Safar Khan in the HBO drama miniseries '' The Night Of'', as well as for her role as Nalini Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen come ...

Nikohl Boosheri Nikohl Boosheri () is an Iran, Iranian actress with Canada, Canadian citizenship. She is best known for her role as Adena El-Amin on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform's ''The Bold Type.'' Biography Boosheri was born in Pakistan to Iranian peoples ...

, Maya Kazan, and Samuel H. Levine.

Cast

as Jaime *

as Tess * Maya Kazan as Jenna * Samuel H. Levine as Shadi * Edward Akrout as Tom

Production

In April 2019, it was announced

, were cast for ''Alia's Birth'', with

directing the film. Tatiana Bears, Nicole Townsend and Abbas were producing, with Sig De Miguel and Stephen Vincent co-producing. Shortly after the rest of the cast was released. Abbas released exclusively via ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' a contest for female-filmmakers to submit their short works to be included in ''Alia's Birth''. The response was tremendous, with hundreds of submissions He quoted, "While I can't talk much about the narrative, the importance of this short piece being female-directed is crucial, ''Alia's Birth'' is female-led, from the acting to behind the camera. I find it easier to communicate and collaborate when working with women. I grew up surrounded by amazing women, and my favorite films are led by women." Abbas also mentioned that the winner of the short film contest was filmmaker Sindha Agha.

Release

In May 2020, ''

'' released a first-look of the feature with major information. Abbas made it clear that the film was for theatrical viewings only. It would never have a life outside of theatres; no DVD/Blu-ray/VOD release. The film premiered on August 26, 2021.

Reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' was the first to review saying "the sudden onrush of biological imperative gives this footage a gripping undeniability and focus that this loosely collaged account of a foundering Brooklyn relationship has been searching for".

References

External links

*
Profile
on

Mubi (streaming service) Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; the Auteurs before 2010) is a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available ...

{{Sam Abbas, state=collapsed 2021 films 2021 drama films 2021 independent films American independent films American drama films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City 2020s English-language films 2020s American films English-language drama films English-language independent films