Syrian Civil War Drama BROADCAST Casts Jay Abdo as Lead

Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo (A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING, QUEEN OF THE DESERT) is boarding the feature film BROADCAST in a lead role and as a co-producer.

The Syrian refugee crisis film will mark the directorial debut of producer Grant Cramer (LONE SURVIVOR, NOVEMBER MAN, WAR WITH GRANDPA), from a script written by Dakota Gorman (ALL ABOUT SEX, AFTERMATH), with the current draft written by Cramer and B. Garida (REAGAN & GORBACHEV, ERACED).

BROADCAST follows the unlikely alliance between a Syrian father (Abdo) desperately fleeing the war-torn country with his family, and a young western aid worker struggling to expose the atrocities committed during the Syrian Civil War.

"As a refugee and artist myself, my heart bleeds over each family getting hurt, abandoned, and shattered by war," said Abdo. "This film is THE VOICE of those forgotten, trying to tell the world: We Are Here. In a country where journalism is a crime. Where you could be tortured to death just for asking questions, revealing the truth is the most courageous yet dangerous act."

Originating with Nicole Rio's Salt & Light Films, the film is being produced by Rio and Cramer's Landafar Entertainment in collaboration with production company Myth Division and its CEO Ramón Govea, who will executive produce the project.

Cramer, who has produced independent film across a range of budgets and genres, initially came on board to help guide the story's development. "The metamorphosis of the project, from where we started to where we are now, coincided with the birth of my first child. The love I felt for him drew me deeper and deeper empathetically into this story of a Syrian father struggling to keep his own children safe, by any means, amidst circumstances beyond anything most of us can imagine. I soon realized BROADCAST had gone from a story I wanted to tell to one I needed to tell."

In development during the pandemic, BROADCAST has been a passion project for all involved parties. "Films in this genre, that capture the devastation of war sometimes alienate the audience through a disassociation from our comfortable lives. What we loved about this script is it manages to highlight the tragically complex reality of conflict and connect us to the humanity of the people involved," states Govea.

Rio previously teamed with writer/director Gorman on the 2021 indie hit, ALL ABOUT SEX released by Gravitas Ventures and Myriad Pictures and the duo is developing a supernatural horror project for Myth Division. Cramer recently produced the Nic Cage film Willy's Wonderland, breaking distribution records for Screen Media.

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