NOT IN MY BACKYARD (2011) - dramatic short film (wrote and co-produced). Produced by, starring, and directed by
Iyad Hajjaj.
Middle-Eastern high school math teacher AMIR encounters small town prejudice when he is hired to prep the 6-student math team for a shot at the International Math Olympiad. His unlikely ally and mentor is Jewish teacher SABRA.
When Amir gets involved in the local Islamic Center's quest to build a mosque, he finds his job in jeopardy and must decide whether his loyalties lie with his passion for religious freedom, or the students who have bonded to him.
NOT IN MY BACKYARD has appeared in the 2012 Temecula Valley International Film Festival.