Sam Rockwell and Mark Berger’s Play Hooky Productions presents writer and director Julian Joslin’s riveting new live action short, No Longer Suitable for Use. with a World Premiere next month at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. Joslin’s screenplay draws from his firsthand experiences working on terrorism cases in NYC
Samir (Ramy’s Laith Nakli), a Syrian-Egyptian immigrant, has built a tenuous life for himself and his young son in Brooklyn. After years of working as an informant for the FBI, an opportunity arises to tell a lie that might end the deportation proceedings threatening to separate him from his son and their new home. Samir must decide how far he will go to protect his hard-earned place in the country.
Executive Produced by Academy Award-winner Sam Rockwell and inspired by writer-director Julian Joslin’s firsthand experiences working for the defense on terrorism prosecutions in New York City, No Longer Suitable for Use is an incisive snapshot of a life ensnared in an expansive surveillance state, and of the compromises and sacrifices a father will make to protect his family.
Featured cast members: Laith Nakli, Waleed Zuaiter, Craig muMs Grant, Ivan Martin, Michael Godere, and Samir Zaim-Sassi
Saturday, June 12 – 4:30 PM
The Battery
Sunday, June 13 – 6:00 PM
Tribeca At Home
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“The origins of No Longer Suitable for Use are in my experience working for the defense on eleven federal terrorism prosecutions in New York City — including the Newburgh Four, Khalid Al-Fawwaz, Asia Siddiqui, Oumar Issa, Minh Quang Pham, and Viktor Bout. The many hours I spent with these defendants one-on-one and the opportunity to witness the inner workings of these investigations profoundly affected my perspective on the “war on terror,” and it made me want to share the side of these cases that I’d seen — a side very different from what we often see on the news and hear from politicians and law enforcement.
“In making No Longer Suitable for Use, I wanted to tell the story of a fictional FBI informant — “Samir” — to explore how this system could lead an ordinary man to tell a lie of such magnitude that it might destroy another man’s life. I was extremely fortunate to find an ideal collaborator in the film’s star, Laith Nakli, the Syrian actor best known as Uncle Naseem in Hulu’s Ramy. Laith worked with me to refine and shape the character of Samir, generously tapping into his own life experiences to inform a rich backstory and the larger world in which his character exists.
“My hope is that audiences come away from this intimate character study with a greater empathy for an often misunderstood individual, but also a clearer understanding of a much larger system at the intersection of the most critical issues of our time — immigration, civil liberties, Islamophobia, and law enforcement tactics.”
– Julian Joslin, Writer and Director (May 2021)
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
www.nolongersuitableforuse.com