Congratulations to the Dearborn team for winning Best Television Pilot at Cinequest 2026!

Dearborn is a fiscally sponsored project of AFMI Creators, and it screened at the 2025 Arab Film Festival.

Dearborn has won Best Television Pilot at Cinequest 2026

Dearborn stars Inji El Gammal (as seen on Ramy) and Alia Abed. It is a half hour sci-fi dramedy pilot, and won the Audience Award at NFFTY 2025.

It tells the story of Haifa, a young rebellious woman who, having been expelled from college, returns to her close-knit Arab community in Dearborn, Michigan. Determined to restore her reputation and regain her mother’s trust, her plans spiral when she becomes entangled in an alien conspiracy initiated by a quirky neighbor.

The writer and showrunner of Dearborn is Leila Bustami, a filmmaker and screenwriter based in New York City. Her work centers on Arab stories and often blends comedy with drama. She is a recent graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where her original pilot Dearborn, which she wrote and showran, was one of only two scripts selected by the UGFTV television department to be produced through a dedicated class.

Dearborn was accepted into SeriesFest, UrbanWorld, Micheaux Film Festival, and NewFilmmakers LA, and won the Audience Award at NFFTY and Best TV Pilot at CineQuest.

Her feature script “Mama’s Azza” received the Best Undergraduate Screenplay award at NYU’s Fusion Film Festival. She is currently developing the project while also expanding Dearborn into a full series.

 

 

Want to learn more about Dearborn? Visit our website and follow the team on Instagram.