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The Taboo
The Taboo: (horror-drama)
A religious Muslim gay man finds witchcraft at his doorstep as punishment to his sins, awaking his religious terrors and internal battle with God.
Younis- Protagonist (23 -33) (doesn’t need to speak Arabic): He grew up in The US, so he doesn’t speak Arabic at all. He told his parents he was gay when he was young, so they cut him off. He’s terrified to live this experience again with his boyfriend’s parents.
Reserved, quiet, troubled, secretive, and observant. Tries to hide how he’s feeling from Milad, thinking that Milad will leave him if he finds out about his panic attacks. Loves Milad a lot, but intimacy and sex scare him.
Milad – The boyfriend (23-33): (Speaks Arabic)Hespeaks Arabic. Was raised in the Middle East and came to the US in his teen years. He never came out to his parents, and his parents are a lot more liberal and loving. Milad is also Middle Eastern but doesn’t have Younis’s problems. He wants intimacy with Younis, and doesn’t understand why they’re holding back.
Milad is supportive and loving to Younis. He’s sweet, jokes with people, never takes things too seriously, and has this light magic to him that helps Younis calm down at times.
They’re a sweet, loving supportive couple, and if it wasn’t for Younis’s secrets and hiding of his past, maybe they could figure out why things aren’t working.
Lina – Milad’s Mom (50s): (Speaks Arabic) She doesn’t have the strongest English, but she can still speak with Younis well. She’s kind, loving, and has unconditional love to Milad. He never told her the truth about him, but she knows, and she still loves him the same. She knows who Younis is to her son, and at first she’s a bit taken back, but she’s very observant, and is the first to notice Younis’spain, and becomes like a mother to him. She’s very motherly, and she’s religious in the most beautiful, peaceful, welcoming ways.
Rihab – Younis’s Mom (50s): Cold, strong, religiously conflicted, and unlike Lina, she doesn’t accept her gay son. She’s a religious fanatic who would go for extremes. She sent her son to a Shiekh to “Fix him” when he was young. Then she cut him off, and now she’s trying to threaten him. She believes that not only him, but her as well, will be punished for his sins. She lives in terror and blames her son for her lonely, cold, depressing life. She made up her mind long ago, she will never accept him, and there is never a moment of doubt or thought.
Ahmed – Milad’s Father (50s): He’s a kind man with a lot of humor, unless it comes to homosexuality, he has a very strict frown and small mind. Even though his suspicions toward his son are rising, and even though he’s completely against homosexuality, familial relationships are above everything to him. He will frown at his son, he will treat Younis coldly, but he will never risk losing his son, and there’s always a limit to how tough he can get.
NDA.
ultra low budget
shooting across the country
Must be able to travel