STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., June 30, 2026 — What happens when people who fled the same country struggle to coexist on the same street in America?

Iraqi American filmmaker and author Weam Namou explores this raw, timely question in Pomegranate, her multiple award-winning feature film based on her own novel and set in suburban Detroit, where political, cultural and religious tensions collide among two communities rarely portrayed together on screen: Iraqi Muslim and Chaldean Christian.

Executive produced by Home Alone producer Scott Rosenfelt, Pomegranate is widely regarded as the first narrative feature film written, directed and led by an Iraqi American creative team.

Pomegranate follows Niran, a young Muslim immigrant adapting to life in America after moving into a conservative Iraqi Christian neighborhood in suburban Detroit just before the 2016 presidential election. As political tensions intensify, everyday interactions become loaded with fear, misunderstanding and competing ideas about identity, faith and belonging.

“I wrote Pomegranate after witnessing tensions between the political left and right intensify during the 2016 presidential election,” Namou said. “Using the communities I know best, Chaldean Christian and Muslim, I wanted to humanize both sides. Instead of adding to the noise, I chose story as a way to explore identity, faith, division and the possibility of understanding.”

While rooted in Iraqi immigrant experiences, the film addresses themes familiar to many Americans: cultural identity, generational conflict, political polarization and the struggle to maintain relationships amid division.

Considered a dramedy, Pomegranate approaches serious topics with warmth, humor and vulnerability rather than ideology, creating space for audiences to see unfamiliar communities through a human lens.

The project first gained recognition as a quarterfinalist in Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope competition before going on to win more than 50 international film awards.

“The title itself represents the message,” Namou explained. “A pomegranate contains many separate seeds inside one body. Even the word itself carries symbolism. Its name traces back to a shared ancient Semitic root found in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic, reflecting the interconnected heritage of the region. Beneath our religious and political identities, we are often more alike than we realize.”

Pomegranate is currently streaming in 25 countries on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube and additional platforms through distributor Freestyle Digital Media (https://www.freestyledigitalmedia.tv/film/pomegranate//). Watch the movie trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=usBH2x72t0Q.

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MORE ABOUT WEAM NAMOU

Weam Namou is an Eric Hoffer Award-winning author of over 25 books, a journalist, an independent scholar and a filmmaker of two feature films. Her latest feature film, Pomegranate, is now streaming in 25 countries and has garnered over 50 awards to date. Namou is an ambassador for the Authors Guild of America (Detroit Chapter) and the founder of Unique Voices in Films, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the Path of Consciousness, a writing and spiritual community. She’s a Kresge Fellow for directing.

She is currently developing a documentary based on the life of the late international mystic and bestselling author of Medicine Woman, Lynn V. Andrews.

For more information, please visit https://weamnamou.com/ and www.pomegranatemovie.com.