Pressing the Mute Button: Maysaloun Hamoud to Direct Taxi Driver-esque “Beretta”

A project that has been on our radar since it was an invited spec at Sundance’s January Screenwriters Lab back in 2015, Beretta has found a director in Maysaloun Hamoud. Written by Qatari-American artist, writer and filmmaker Sophia al-Maria, Variety reports that the thriller to be produced by Passage Pictures’ Uri Singer and Aimee Peyronnet. Beretta doesn’t have a start date but we imagine they’ll be lassoing the film’s lead and already have a backdrop in the cards. Hamoud’s Bar Bahar had its world premiere at TIFF back in 2016. That film was three Palestinian women sharing an apartment in contemporary Tel Aviv, navigating religious, sexual and racial fault lines away from home. That drama featured actress Mouna Hawa who was most recently seen in Inshallah A Boy. Here is an interview we conducted with Sophia al-Maria back in 2015 along with Sundance logline –

Barraged by daily harassment from men on the streets of Cairo, a mute young woman is finally pushed over the edge when she is attacked and raped by a stranger. Transforming from victim to vigilante, her feelings of powerlessness and rage echo the complex dynamics unfolding in the Arab world today.