Dearborn native Mike Mosallam, who wrote and directed “Breaking Fast,” says he wanted to avoid the familiar narrative of a gay Arab Muslim man — or any gay man of any culture or faith — who is not accepted by his family.
Instead, his lead character, Mo, is surrounded by supportive relatives, especially his hilariously outspoken mom, whose only concern is that he be happy.
In one scene, Mo finds out that she has posted on social media: “I have failed as a mother. My son eats alone every night.”
The movie unfolds during the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Besides being a love story, it’s also a movie about the mouthwatering dishes served at nightly iftars, the traditional meal eaten after sunset.
Food, family and a funny, sweet story make for a familiar and yet very unique romantic comedy.
“Sure, it seems too good to be true,” says Mosallam of the film’s overall tone of acceptance. “But I hope people will understand that it needs to be just true.”
On Saturday, Mosallam finally will get a hometown premiere for his first feature film at Saturday’s virtual screening and discussion of “Breaking Fast” hosted by the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn.
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It will be the next best thing to the event that he couldn’t have in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mosallam, who has lived in Los Angeles for nearly a decade, says Dearborn still holds “a very special place in my heart.”
“Breaking Fast,” which got an online wide release in January, has earned a 96% favorable rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The San Jose Mercury News called it “a lovely antidote to the disharmony of these times, a soothing, comforting story about the importance of connection and understanding.”
The Hollywood Reporter asked: “So what makes Mike Mosallam’s debut feature so special? The easy answer is that one of its main characters is a religiously observant, gay Muslim, not exactly a familiar character in such stories. The deeper reason is that it’s a witty, beautifully observed and well-acted film that proves as engaging as it is boundary-shattering.”
The virtual Dearborn event is part of the Arab Film Series of the Arab American National Museum, which also holds an annual Arab Film Festival.
“We’re always looking to showcase and uplift artists from our community,” says Diana Abouali, noting that “Breaking Fast” fits into both that goal and the current holy month of Ramadan, a period when Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset.
As for the film itself, Abouali says, “I think what’s most significant about ‘Breaking Fast’ is that it’s a film about Arab Americans made by Arab Americans, and that it tells a story we can all relate to — that of a man and his search for love.”
The story begins as Mo, a gastroenterologist who lives in West Hollywood, is about to find out that his boyfriend of several years, Hassan, plans to marry a woman in order to keep his true self hidden from a disapproving father.
Cut to a year later, when Mo goes to a party and meets Kal, a gay white actor who grew up in Jordan on a military base, is fluent in Arabic and shares his passion for all things related to Superman.
Hesitant to re-enter the dating scene, Mo bumps into Kal again at a grocery store. They get to know each other slowly after Kal offers to cook for Mo.
As happens in rom-coms, Kal is a veritable gourmet cook who is well-versed in Arab dishes. Soon, the two are preparing meals together each night as their initial chemistry leads to real affection.
But Kal is keeping some secrets that Mo will need to discover. And Mo, who seems so together and in control, is actually a mess. He’s avoiding certain issues that stand in the way of this new relationship. Rom-com fans know this terrain well, but Mosallam gives the journey a nice touch of depth and a fresh point of view.
Mosallam says “Breaking Fast” has a broad appeal on purpose. ”Our motto was the specificity would lend to the universality. The more nuanced and more specific that we made this world, the more (universally) the themes emerged.”
As a student at Dearborn High School, Mosallam was encouraged by his music and drama teachers to keep studying the performing arts. A first-generation Lebanese American, he says that his father and late mother weren’t opposed to his career path. They just didn’t know how it would work.
“Their concern was: ‘What will he do with his life? How will he make a living?’ It was a very standard immigrant parent American dream concern, but they never said, ‘No, you can’t.’”
Mosallam went to the University of Michigan for its acclaimed musical theater program, and his fellow students included Tony winners Celia Keenan-Bolger (“To Kill a Mockingbird), who’s from Detroit, and Gavin Creel (“Hello, Dolly!”). His voice professor was Shirley Verrett, the internationally renown opera star who was a pioneering figure for Black opera singers.
“She was a huge inspiration to my foray into being a person of color in this industry and how she handled that,” he says.
Mosallam moved to New York City in May 2001. Months later, the tragedy of 9/11 prompted him to reconsider his focus. He didn’t want to take stereotypical acting roles as an Arab terrorist or villain that became so prevalent in TV dramas and action movies. He wanted to help reframe the narrative and tell stories about the Arab people he knew and grew up with, stories with nuance and humanity.
He returned to metro Detroit during the heyday of Michigan’s film incentive program, the state’s 2008-2015 attempt to build a new industry here. During that period, he spent about three years heading the Wayne County film office. He learned the ropes of producing projects and built a network of professional contacts.
He also made a splash by creating a documentary series set in Dearborn, TLC’s “All-American Muslim.” Centering on five Lebanese-American families, it lasted one season, earning praise for its depiction of the Muslim communities. Ultimately, it probably wasn’t sensationalized enough to work as reality TV.
In 2012, with Michigan’s film incentives heading toward their 2015 death, Mosallam moved to Los Angeles and worked on the business development side of filmmaking while also writing and pitching his own projects. He made a short film version of “Breaking Fast” that was chosen to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival as part of an emerging filmmaker showcase.
At the time, he described his short film this way: “‘Breaking Fast’ isn’t about a Muslim man or a gay man. It’s a story of what happens when you live outside any one prescribed mold and meet someone who truly piques your interest. It’s a story about human connection above anything else.”
On the plane ride home from Cannes after seeing the audience’s positive reception of the short, Mosallam says he opened his laptop and began writing the screenplay for a feature-length version.
Filming took about three weeks in December 2018. Haaz Sleiman, who played Tarek in 2007’s acclaimed “The Visitor” and whose TV credits include “Nurse Jackie” and “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” was cast in the lead role as Mo. Michael Cassidy, who co-stars in SyFy’s “Resident Alien,” got the part of Kal.
In a fun twist of fate, Cassidy appeared in the Superman-themed series “Smallville” and was Jimmy Olseon in the Detroit-filmed “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” — pretty apt credits for a character who shares Superman’s planet Krypton name, Kal-El.
Mosallam says he worked closely with casting director Tineka Becker and provided a list of 22 Arab countries early in the process. “I said the actors for these roles can be from these countries. What I wasn’t going to do was tell an Arab American Muslim story as an Arab American Muslim filmmaker and do a sort of brown-washing that we sometimes see in Hollywood, where somebody who’s southeast Asian or somebody who’s Latino is playing an Arab role. I wanted Arabs to play Arabs.”
Mosallam says he plans to keep working with MMP (Mike Mosallam Productions) to make projects like “Breaking Fast.” Its mission statement is “to develop, create and produce unique and authentic content that deals with the intersectionality of identities.”
He admits he has been moved by the messages he has received from people in Dearborn and across the country “who have just been so grateful that a film like this exists.”
The same emotion was expressed during filming as the actors gathered to tell a sweet, sometimes poignant, sometimes laugh-out-loud love story.
He still carries with him what actress Rula Gardenier, who plays Mo’s mother, said one day. “I’ll never forget Rula said to me on set: ‘This is the first time I have been asked to be funny. I’m so often putting on a hijab and crying or scared. This is the first time I get to be funny and I’m so grateful for it.’”
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
‘Breaking Fast’ online screening and discussion
6 p.m. Sat.
Rated PG-13; language, adult references
Register for free ($5 suggested donation) at arabamericanmuseum.org
