AFMI fiscally sponsored project: DEARBORN
The first fiscally sponsored project of AFMI Creators, Dearborn won Best Television Pilot at Cinequest 2026 and is screening at festivals across the country.
DEARBORN – starring Inji El Gammal (as seen on RAMY) and Alia Abed – is a half hour sci-fi dramedy pilot.
Expelled from college, Haifa, a young rebellious woman, returns to her close-knit Arab community in Dearborn, Michigan, determined to restore her reputation and regain her mother’s trust. However, her plans spiral when she becomes entangled in an alien conspiracy initiated by a quirky neighbor.
Join us in celebrating Dearborn‘s success so far:
- Dearborn won Best Television Pilot at Cinequest 2026!
- Dearborn screened in the Independent Drama Pilot Section at SeriesFest & was featured in Deadline
- Dearborn won the Audience Award for Best Episodic at NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)
- Dearborn screened at the Grand Rapids Film Festival in Michigan!
AFMI’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program is an initiative designed to support Arab and Arab-American filmmakers and film projects that advance AFMI’s mission.
Help Dearborn reach a larger audience. Make a donation to support this film!
AFMI fiscally sponsored project: DEARBORN
The first fiscally sponsored project of AFMI Creators, Dearborn won Best Television Pilot at Cinequest 2026 and is screening at festivals across the country.
DEARBORN – starring Inji El Gammal (as seen on RAMY) and Alia Abed – is a half hour sci-fi dramedy pilot.
Expelled from college, Haifa, a young rebellious woman, returns to her close-knit Arab community in Dearborn, Michigan, determined to restore her reputation and regain her mother’s trust. However, her plans spiral when she becomes entangled in an alien conspiracy initiated by a quirky neighbor.
Join us in celebrating Dearborn‘s success so far:
- Dearborn won Best Television Pilot at Cinequest 2026!
- Dearborn screened in the Independent Drama Pilot Section at SeriesFest & was featured in Deadline
- Dearborn won the Audience Award for Best Episodic at NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)
- Dearborn screened at the Grand Rapids Film Festival in Michigan!
AFMI’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program is an initiative designed to support Arab and Arab-American filmmakers and film projects that advance AFMI’s mission.
Help Dearborn reach a larger audience. Make a donation to support this film!
Cast & Crew
Photography by Marlo Irani
- Showrunner/Writer: Leila Bustami
- Director: Skylar Kim
- Executive Producer: Zhanel Ibragimova
- Producer: Sarah Whittum
- Associate Producer: Zane Rizvi-Reimer
- Production Designer: Netyali Ortega
- Director of Photography: Ari Isenberg
- Showrunner/Writer: Leila Bustami
- Director: Skylar Kim
- Executive Producer: Zhanel Ibragimova
- Producer: Sarah Whittum
- Associate Producer: Zane Rizvi-Reimer
- Production Designer: Netyali Ortega
- Director of Photography: Ari Isenberg
Leila Bustami
Showrunner/Writer
Leila Bustami is 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.
The pilot 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.
Skylar Kim
Director
Skylar Kim is an award-winning filmmaker and producer who grew up in the U.S. and South Korea. She’s studying Film and TV at NYU Tisch School of the Arts (with a minor in English and Entertainment Business). Her films have been screened at NYU student film festivals and the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, New York. Her screenplays were selected as finalists for the Los Angeles Asian Film Awards, Ivy Film Festival, and Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2022. As a producer, her projects were awarded the 2021 HEAR US Award and 2021-2022 NYU Tisch Student Producers Grant. She was recently a Research Intern for two upcoming Apple TV+ productions, Pachinko (Season 2) and The White Darkness.
