Feature Film
NUUR (LEAD & SUPPORTING ROLES)
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Details
Union:
Union
Area of media:
Feature Film
Network:
Paid?:
Yes
Rates:
ACTRA Low budget independent feature rate (CIPIP 25%)
Deadline:
Dec 16, 2024
Shooting starts:
Feb 14, 2025 o/a Late February – 3rd week of March 2025
Shooting finishes:
Mar 21, 2025 o/a Late February – 3rd week of March 2025
Shooting locations:
Toronto & Hamilton
Cities for response:
Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, Sudbury
Storyline
Storyline: This story is about Nuur, a sensitive and academically gifted seventeen-year-old boy growing up in Toronto's Somali neighbourhood, as he negotiates perilously between the calling of his faith and his intellectual ambitions
Roles
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | NUUR | Male 17 - 20 Years old |
Description [NUUR] Character portrayed is male, 17 years old, Somali. *PLEASE NOTE TALENT THAT ARE 18+, PLEASE NOTE IF TALENT IS ABLE TO SPEAK SOMALI* A studious, Somali-born, Toronto-raised high school student, Nuur is a teenage bundle of contrasts. He has a freshness and vulnerability, a degree if immaturity about the ways of the world he is perilously wide open to (these qualities are enhanced by the wisps of an attempted beard, and his choice to forsake the baggy jeans and hoodies of his peers and dress in the kufi and qaamis of a religious Muslim). At the same time, Nuur is a deeply mature teenager who carries the weight of his family's struggles, including his parents' broken marriage, his father's absence, and his mother's depression, all while navigating the trauma of fleeing war in Somalia. In a community where many adults share similar burdens, Nuur finds himself assuming the role of the man of the house, caring for himself and his mother. Despite these challenges, he maintains a quiet passion for life, dreaming of becoming a doctor and harmonizing his pursuit of secular education with his faith in Islam. Nuur is influenced by two father figures with opposing views: his biology teacher, Mr. Ilmi, who supports his academic aspirations and embraces modern, secular Canadian life, and Imam Yusuf, who advocates for a return to traditional Somali values and rejects Western influences. This tension between his mentors plays a pivotal role in Nuur's personal growth as he seeks his own identity and path forward…LEAD ROLE | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | ISMAIL | Male 45 - 55 Years old |
Description [ISMAIL] Character portrayed is male, late 40’s, Somali. *PLEASE NOTE IF TALENT IS ABLE TO SPEAK SOMALI* Ismail is a broken man. Whether it was the pain of exile, the humiliation of asylum-seeking, disillusionment with finding himself adrift in Canada and unable to bear the containment of family life…Ismail took it out on his family and revealed himself as weak. He left his family and took a second wife in Minnesota, more an act of desperation than liberation. As expected, it’s no salvation, and he turns up back home, chauvinistically imposing his presence on a family torn between nostalgia, love, fury and revulsion. Presenting himself as entitled, he reveals himself as pathetic, and ultimately cruel. Ismail is at once embarrassed and intimidated by Nuur’s religious faith, and goads him. Nuur, meanwhile, desperately craves harmony, and its impossibility ends explosively – the father now attacking his younger son with violence, Ismail’s failure pushing Nuur over the edge…SUPPORTING | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | KHADIJA | Female 25 - 35 Years old |
Description [KHADIJA] Character portrayed is female, late 20’s, Somali. *TALENT MUST BE ABLE TO SPEAK SOMALI* She’s chosen happiness, embracing an arranged marriage to Mr. Ilmi, her first pregnancy and a new life in Canada. She’s only recently arrived and she wears her new situation lightly, spending her days dancing to Bollywood movies and cooking Somali cuisine for her new husband. In fact, she’s so poor a cook that it’s endearing. But Khadija is no simpleton. To the contrary, she understands her husband and his contradictions, perhaps better than he understands himself. She’s gentle and generous with him, cajoling, with an ability to tease him and call him out in a way that lets him laugh at himself. She knows that Ilmi agreed to an arranged marriage having given up on dating and romance at a certain age, but she doesn’t resent him, choosing instead to make it work. Although younger than her husband, Khadija has a past of her own – memories of an old flame she carries more with wisdom than regret, only revealing details to Ilmi in a tender moment in which she seeks to help him find his way out of his own hole of regret – a powerful bonding moment for them as a couple, as real love begins to enter the marriage…SUPPORTING ROLE | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Supporting | AYUUB | Male 18 - 22 Years old |
Description [AYUUB] Character portrayed is male, 19 years old, Somali. *PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT 18+, PLEASE NOTE IF TALENT IS ABLE TO SPEAK SOMALI* Nuur idolizes his “big bro,” even though they are complete opposites. Ayuub is handsome, gregarious, a girl-magnet, rebellious and “chill” with a wry sense of humor. Nuur looks up to Ayuub and he loves his little brother right back. Ayuub is generally distant from his family, particularly after a violent clash with his father, Ismail, which has created a deep rift between them. Despite his retreat, Ayuub's occasional return home offers a sense of warmth and comfort, especially for Nuur, who hopes to repair the broken relationship between the two men. Ayuub's outwardly irresponsible behavior contrasts with a deeper maturity and responsibility that emerges when his white girlfriend, Lisa, unexpectedly becomes pregnant. In response, Ayuub balances his sense of duty with his adventurous spirit, planning a move to Fort McMurray, Canada, to find work and support his growing family…SUPPORTING ROLE | ||