Pinball

In most respects, Yasir is a typical American college kid who is coming of age twenty years after the U.S. invaded his country and displaced his family from their Iraqi homeland. He was just four years old when they fled Baghdad and received asylum in Louisville, Kentucky. Yasir lives for his social life and has big dreams of becoming a pro soccer player. But he struggles to find purpose in the classroom and works a restaurant job to help his family out. He pushes against his dad, who wants him to help fix and sell used cars. And when Yasir tries to open a bank account, he learns he isn’t a U.S. citizen. It becomes clear to Yasir that being an adult in the U.S. is not going to be easy, but he is determined. Pinball chronicles the interplay of cultural, social, and political influences that push Yasir to find his way in a world that grows increasingly more difficult to navigate while he, his best friend, and their tight-knit group of Iraqi-American friends savor their fleeting adolescence. The film explores Yasir’s understanding of adulthood and the vulnerability of family structures and friendships.