PALM SPRINGS SHORTFEST 2024 REVIEW! Grieving for a spouse should be a sacred experience, but prejudice knows no bounds. Director/writer Ward Kamel’s short film If I Die in America is about a young man named Manuel Reyes, aka Manny (Gil Perez-Abraham), who not only has to cope with the unexpected death of his husband but also has to deal with his traditional Muslim in-laws who want the body immediately sent back to his homeland of the Middle East.
Manuel, with an unexplained bruised and bloody face, meets with a family liaison of his husband’s named Dalal (Hana Chamoun), who drops the bombshell that the family wants the body to be shipped overseas that same night. Manuel responds that he needs at least a week to process things, but Dalal says that the family wants a funeral by the next morning.
The audience hears a piercing sound and quick flashbacks, an effective method to show the disorientation that Manuel must be going through. After more pressure, Manuel walks off, yelling, “I just want to talk to her!”
He goes home to a flood of condolence text messages. Then, we see a flashback to a happy time when Manny and his husband Sameer (George Shakkour) were actually talking about Sameer’s family being accepting of their relationship. It’s interrupted by a knock on the door, with Dalal and her brother Khalil (Moud Sabra) bringing flowers to talk some more.

“…brings up a type of discrimination that isn’t talked about much…”

Dalal came to apologize and to let Manny know that the family wasn’t entirely aware of their relationship situation. They still need him to sign the papers to bring the body back to Kuwait. Manny explains that he just needs a little more time when Khalil shoots back, “Not really. Are you a woman? Did you have a wedding? A real wedding, not just one with your friends. You didn’t because this was not a marriage. This was an arrangement. That’s all this was.” Manny lunges at him and tells them to get out.
Manny calls someone and threatens to bury his husband at the local funeral parlor. In the next scene, he throws his phone out of a moving car, then has a change of heart and goes searching for it. Manny answers the phone, and a woman named Noora (Ilham Malki) tells him he’s being selfish and crying, saying Manny had him while he had a choice. “Do you need him now that he can’t? We do.” As the credits roll, we see Manny packing up luggage before he turns off the light.
Ward’s film raises a type of discrimination that isn’t discussed much: the kind that occurs even after death and during grief. It’s a difficult situation, and Gil Perez-Abraham is fantastic at showing his character’s pain through it all.
I’ve long believed that people should be respected no matter whom they love. Hopefully, films like If I Die in America will help more people come to that realization.
If I Die in America screened at the 2024 Palm Springs Short Fest.