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Flight
  Risk

Flight Risk

MOHAMMAD AWAD | AUSTRALIA | 2025 | 16 MIN | ENGLISH

MOHAMMAD AWAD | AUSTRALIA | 2025 | 16 MIN | ENGLISH

VIRTUALShort

Synopsis

Muhammad's fruity holiday plans hit a roadblock when airport security stops him and accuses him of running off to join ISIS. Desperate to catch his flight, he still tries to have some fun along the way in this comedy based on a true story.

Trailer

Filmmaker Bio

Mohammad Awad is an award-winning writer, director, poet, playwright and musician. His play HARAMI was developed and presented at Sydney Theatre Company in 2023, while his film BIKES premiered at the Sydney Opera House. His project INHERITANCE won Queer Screen's 2024 Pitch-Off, and his feature REARRANGED is in development with Invention Studios. Flight Risk premiered at Melbourne Queer Film Festival and won the MQFF Short Film Prize. Awad has also appeared at Sydney Writers Festival, Sydney Mardi Gras, WorldPride and other major Australian arts events.

Director's Statement

Flight Risk allows us to see a "Muhammad" character who is bold and defiant, breaking the stereotypes of his Arab community and refusing to make himself smaller to survive. […] A story that humanizes us as Queer Arabs - a story that is needed now more than ever. […] This film is also a love letter to a younger Mohammad who lived this story, to honour him and make him laugh. I wish I could've shown this to him at fifteen when he was isolated, scared and suicidal.

Producer

Mohammad Awad, Patrick Abboud, Rizcel Gagawanan

Writer

Mohammad Awad

Cast

  • Mohammad Awad
  • Kate Box
  • Nicholas Burton
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