Why Did the Bluesman Cross the Road?
Fall Grants 2021 - Development Stage
Meedo Taha / TV Series / United States of America, Lebanon, Qatar / 60 min / Interests: Horror, Musical
Synopsis
At a car dealership in Santa Monica, California, Ernesto and Jamal are hardworking mechanics by day and aspiring musicians by night. Their music binds them closer than brothers, in a dream beyond the oil and grease. Meanwhile, Ernesto and the boss’s daughter Virginia are secretly madly in love. When her father learns his mechanic got her pregnant, he sends a crooked cop to set things straight, but the struggle turns violent, leaving the cop with a bullet in his gut and the trio of Ernesto, Jamal, and Virginia on the run. They end up halfway across the country in Dearborn, Michigan, the Arab-American capital of the United States. Big fish in a small pond, the trio’s desires seem tantalizingly within reach. However, under Dearborn’s manicured lawns and tight Arab community lie an economic recession, an opioid crisis, and a militia of white supremacists. And sooner than they expect, the mess the trio left behind comes back to haunt them, turning their American Dream into their darkest nightmare. ‘Why Did the Bluesman Cross the Road?’ is a horror musical melodrama that explores the social and psychological struggles of the immigrant artist in a deeply divided America in search of its own identity.
Credits
- Director
- Meedo Taha
- Screenwriter
- Meedo Taha
- Producer
- Samira Ghoul
- Production Company
- drawFILM
About the Director
Meedo Taha is a Lebanese filmmaker and author who tells stories about people who dare to push social boundaries. His films include 'The Incident' (Jury Award from the Directors Guild of America), and his literary work includes the novel 'A Road to Damascus' (published by Interlink). His work has been screened at festivals such as Busan and Clermont-Ferrand and has received support from the Sloan Foundation, Doha Film Institute, Centre National du Cinéma, Cine Qua Non Lab, and Sundance Institute. Meedo earned a PhD in Architecture from the University of Tokyo and an MFA in Directing from UCLA.
Contacts
-
Main Contact
Meedo Taha
- Company:
- drawFILM
- Email:
- meedot@me.com
-
Main Contact
Samira Ghoul
- Company:
- drawFILM
- Email:
- sambussik@gmail.com