Krystle Houiess Cast in Web Series ALBNA BEIRUT

Krystle Houiess is an award-winning actress, producer, director, and Ph.D. candidate who has performed in many types of mediums such as theater, film, voice acting, and more. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, and now living in Los Angeles, California, Krystle has been cast as the lead storyteller in the web series "Albna Beirut," which translates to "Our Hearts are Beirut." This fictional series with De Marc Creative explores the lives of immigrants from Beirut living in Los Angeles who are striving and want to make an impact on society.

Krystle is most known most for her notable and award-winning work on her short film "A Broken Tear" (starring Zeina Makki) and on her feature film "Maskoun" (in which she stars, directed, and wrote). Both projects won multiple awards at international film festivals. As a woman of color, Krystle is bringing a unique and novel dynamic to the American film industry with her Lebanese-Philipino cultural background and her communication skills in four different languages (English, Arabic, Philipino, and French). In addition, her excellent track record in the industry and her education lend to further innovation in the industry.

"Albna Beirut" is a fictional series that explores the lives of immigrants from Beirut living here in Los Angeles, striving to succeed and make an impact on society. It is a story of four Lebanese students from different religions crossing paths and talking about the challenges of facing an identity crisis and being far away from home. Krystle will be serving as the lead storyteller because of her ability to speak Arabic. She will be able to connect to the audience with her true ethnicity and the true emotion of being so far away from home. Krystle's ability to relate to Beirut and her Lebanese accent was a plus to perform the role. She lived in Beirut most of her life and has experienced most of the challenging times the country has been through.

Krystle says: "It's funny that the young generation tries to get out as fast as they can, but when you leave Beirut, there's something inside you that breaks. There's this homey feeling that Beirut gives you. The streets, the people, the old man selling Kaak (A Lebanese type of Bread) on the side of the streets, the traffic, the driving, everything. As much I go into detail, you have to live it to really understand what Beirut feels. Being able to portray this character makes me really happy to portray Beirut through my voice. I hope that the audience will get to see how hard it is being miles apart from your family and still want to live far away from them. I hope they see that our Beirut is a beautiful city but has been destroyed and doomed so many times that the only solution is to get OUT. The four people who I will be storytelling have faced many challenges, and as much as they love Beirut, they know that their future lies somewhere else. Their world collides through a series of coincidences, and the story unfolds through sadness, anger, love, dreams, failures, and acceptance. I hope the audience will connect with that."

Photo Credit: Daniel Santandrea

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