The question, “Where are you from?” can be a complex one in Aotearoa New Zealand. When Ahmad, a young man intoxicated by his own notoriety, is asked the question on live TV in a scene from Miles from Nowhere, his charm drains away.
“I was born in Avondale,” he says, suddenly flustered. Then things get messy.
It’s an ordinary problem, says Mohamed Hassan, poet, journalist and writer and creator of Miles from Nowhere –and the child of Egyptian immigrants. “Like myself, Ahmad has an accent that people question all the time and feel weird about.”
Ahmad, played by Australian actor Sami Afuni, is the annoying buddy of the show’s lead character Said (Arlo Green). Ahmad deals with the tensions of identity by focusing on the idea that he’s a good-looking Instagram celebrity while Said is just a 20-something loser who
