Breaking Fast with a Coca Cola
After growing up in the secular households of their Turkish immigrant parents in the Midwest, Özlem and Ada are desperate to celebrate a tradition of their own. For the first time, they embark on a day of fasting and a night of feasting for Ramadan.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Amy Omar
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
One summer fifteen years ago, my best friend and I decided to fast for Ramadan for the first time. Because our immigrant parents feared persecution in America, we grew up in secular Turkish households in the Midwest and knew nothing about what fasting entailed or the rules required of us. We only knew that we needed to abstain from eating from sunrise to sunset. That summer taught us the power of religion as a creator of community and was an exercise of actively making a choice to incorporate a practice into our identity, rather than have it influenced by a parent. In an uncomfortable political landscape post 9/11, we proudly held up a religious practice that society advised us to downplay.
While not all of this is captured in Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola, I wanted to share a piece of my personal story that was a very important memory in the creation of my religious and cultural identity. I felt that audiences could connect with this unique perspective on religion and that I could help expand the Middle Eastern narrative through this short.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
What I love about this story is that it flips the immigrant religious narrative on its head. Instead of children of immigrants rejecting the religion of their parents, they wholeheartedly embrace it and want to be a part of something important. I want audiences to consider this unique perspective and begin to expand their knowledge of the complexity of religious and cultural practices.
Also - the Turkish narrative is missing from mainstream and even indie media. Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola gives viewers a peak into this rich world through the characters, production and costume design, food and our collaboration with the Anatolian rock band, Altın Gün.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola holds so many different meanings for me. On personal themes - this is the first film I have ever directed and it's based on a true story. This is my introduction as an artist to the world and it is a very emotional feeling to have the opportunity to speak my truth. This film represents the immense care, encouragement and trust my family and friends instilled in me throughout this whole process. This was such a labor of love and am I still moved by how much support I received along the way. From my producer Jordan Hart reading the first draft, to my producer Karine Benzaria calling every single swimming pool in New York, our all-female HOD team worked endlessly to make this incredible film a reality and to them, I am endlessly thankful.
Universally, Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola is full of universal themes. The film touches on the American Dream, cultural identity and isolation, belonging, and friendship.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I initially wrote Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola as a personal narrative essay and published it on Medium. I then adapted it into a short film script. This script received the 2022 WAVE (Women At the Very Edge) Grant from Wavelength Productions and within a matter of months went from words on a page to pre-production. I had never directed a film before, but I am an avid lover of arthouse cinema and have worked on the business side of several films, so I went into this process with a clear vision of what I wanted. After all, this was a fictionalized version of a story I knew very well - I lived it.
Within weeks of receiving the grant, I brought on two seasoned producers Jordan Hart (Dear Mama, Paterno) and Karine Benzaria (Clare, Marcy Learns Something New), who whipped pre-production into shape and helped me bring together an incredibly talented group of all BIPOC female head of departments. The core of Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola is about two Turkish American teens who feel their otherness and long for community. It was important for me to hire traditionally underrepresented groups to fill these roles and be an active player in changing the landscape of Hollywood. Our female HODs consisted of: DP Mika Hawley (Couples Therapy), Production Designer Heather Yancey (Forever Alone, The Americans), Costume Designer Jesca Alfano (The Joker, Pose) and Editor Yael Urbach (Taste the Nation).
When it came to casting for the film, I always knew I wanted to cast Güneş Şensoy (Mustang) to play Ada. Growing up in the Midwest and even later living in New York, I failed to see Turkish films or characters represented in mainstream or indie films. When Mustang premiered in 2015, that changed the film landscape and now opened up a world of possibilities for Turkish actors and filmmakers. I personally reached out to Güneş (on Instagram!) about the role and after reading the script, she was on board. This was a surreal moment for me, a first-time filmmaker, to go out there and cast one of my favorite actors for a story that I wrote and was about to direct. That was when I knew how special this story was. For the other roles, we hired Andrew Dahreddine (Ramy) who brought his specialized expertise to cast brilliant actors, including Ada's hilarious counterpart - Özlem (Lucie Solène Allouche).
Every part of this film was thought through with care to maintain the authenticity of the story. We partnered with MENA brands for production (Yeni Raki, local Turkish restaurants, Turkish artists) and costume (Etsy vendors to source caftans and evil eye jewellery) design. Further, we contracted licensing agreements with Muslim content creators to license video footage of Mecca and Sufis. We also licensed two songs from the Turkish band Altın Gün, an Anatolian band that performs cover songs of classic Turkish folk songs. Setting this precedent was important to me as a first-time director and I could not be more proud of our team and film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
A lot of the feedback that I have received centers around the brilliant chemistry of my actors - Lucie and Güneş. It was important for me to capture a very certain type of sentiment - of a teenage girl living in a small town and wanting to be a part of something bigger than herself. These girls will not take "no" for an answer and have an earnest sense of self. They are willing to push the boundaries of discomfort to discover who they really are - a feeling that many of us former 16 year old can relate to! For 14 minutes, we are living in Özlem and Ada's world and along for the ride of their first fast.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
No - the feedback hasn't surprised or challenged my point of view as of yet but it has been a great experience to see people connecting with the story. Irrespective of the viewer's religious or cultural background, a lot of viewers have relayed how much the film reminded them of their own teenage years and transported them back to mischievous suburban days with their own best friends.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I would love to spread the word about my film as much as possible. I am so grateful that we have started off strong with premiering at SXSW and I want as many people as possible to see and connect with Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Initially, it would be helpful to enlist the support of film festival directors and journalists, as they are the first mode of contact with the greater film ecosystem. As the word about my film spreads beyond the film festival circuit, I am interested in seeking greater streaming distribution to remove any barriers to viewing the film. I want everyone worldwide to have the chance to view this film and share it with their friends and families. Lastly, the support of producers would be immensely helpful in expanding this short into a feature film. I would love the chance to work with a production company to build off this short and expand Özlem and Ada's story beyond the first day of Ramadan.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want viewers to experience a unique take on a Middle Eastern family and on religious practice. There are so many layers to the Muslim and Middle Eastern identity and I want my film to be representative of one of those layers.
There are so few Middle Eastern, especially Turkish, films in the media landscape. Through Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola and my next films, I want to change that and encourage other Turkish and Middle Eastern filmmakers to share their stories and unique perspectives.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What does it mean to partake in a religious tradition and what purpose do religious traditions serve in creating community? What does it mean to take a religious practice and make it your own?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on several projects at the moment. I am currently in pre-production on my second short film, Ayşegül on Tuesdays and am in development on my third short film, Kismet. Along with Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola, Ayşegül on Tuesdays and Kismet will be part of a three-part short film anthology centered around the Turkish-American experience.
I am also writing the feature-length versions of both Ayşegül on Tuesdays and Kismet and intend for each short to be proof of concepts for the feature-length films.
Interview: March 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Breaking Fast with a Coca Cola
After growing up in the secular households of their Turkish immigrant parents in the Midwest, Özlem and Ada are desperate to celebrate a tradition of their own. For the first time, they embark on a day of fasting and a night of feasting for Ramadan.
Length: 14:02
Director: Amy Omar
Producer: Karine Benzaria, Jordan Hart and Amy Omar
Writer: Amy Omar
About the writer, director and producer:
AMY OMAR is a Turkish American writer, director, producer, and entertainment lawyer living in NYC. Amy is particularly interested in narratives around Middle Eastern / Muslim characters and themes of cultural isolation, superstitions, religion, and feminism. Amy is a recipient of Wavelength Productions' WAVE (Women At the Very Edge) Grant for BIPOC, first-time female filmmakers and recently wrote and directed her first short film, Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola which will premiere at SXSW in 2023 and also screen at various Oscar-qualifying festivals. In Spring 2022, she produced the short film Letter Eight, a recipient of the Kodak Shot on Film Fund. Letter Eight premiered at the Santa Monica Film Festival in 2023. Amy is currently in pre-production on her second short film, Ayşegül on Tuesdays. Along with Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola, Ayşegül on Tuesdays will be part of a three-part short film anthology centered around the Turkish-American experience.
KARINE BENZARIA is an American producer whose production experience includes Apple TV’s Hello Tomorrow, Amazon’s Emmy-nominated Jack Ryan, and Netflix’s The OA. Influenced by her French-Colombian upbringing in the suburbs, she is drawn to characters that defy their mundane worlds. In that vein, she most recently produced the 2022 SXSW-nominated film, Clare, and the 2023 SXSW-nominated Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola. Alongside Julia Kennelly and Daisy Zhou, she co-founded the production company Dream City in 2017. There, she produced Marcy Learns Something New, winner of Vimeo Staff’s Best Pick of the Year. She is a 2023 Film Independent Producing Fellow. Between productions, she is developing a television series.
JORDAN HART is a producer and executive in Los Angeles currently serving as the Vice President of Development for Good Question Media (The Witch), where she sources and shepherds a diverse slate of features and series towards production. Prior to Good Question, she served as Director of Development for the Oscar-, Emmy-, and BAFTA-winning company, Little Monster Films, developing the series Edge of the Unknown and Photographer for NatGeo and an upcoming film for Netflix. At Baltimore Pictures, led by Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, Jordan worked on features including Paterno for HBO and The Survivor, which premiered at TIFF in 2021. She also supported hit showrunner, DJ Nash, on two NBC sitcoms-- Growing Up Fisher and Truth Be Told. Her last film, Dear Mama, premiered at SXSW in 2022.
Key cast: Güneş Nezihe Şensoy (Ada), Lucie Solène Allouche (Özlem), Sam Rosentrater (Mrs. S), Sevin Ceviker (Ipek), Reza Nader (Murat), Chris Richards (Mr. S)
Looking for: distributors, buyers, producers, journalists and film festival directors
Twitter: @amyomarsays
Instagram: @amyomar
Hashtags used: #breakingfastwithacocacolafilm #ramadan
Website: www.amyomar.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Dream City Productions
Funders: Self funded, Seed & Spark, Wave Grant
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
SXSW - Austin, Texas - March 10-18;
The Martha's Vineyard Film Festival - Martha's Vineyard - March 22-26;
Cleveland International Film Festival - Cleveland, Ohio - March 22-31