Halal Cart Dreams
Omar at the window of the cart
Halal Cart Dreams

The American Dream is cash only.

Official Selection, New York Shorts International Film Festival 2026
Watch the trailer Follow @halalcartdreams
Official trailer 0:39
The racket is real New York City

Midtown pays.
Astoria pays.
Bay Ridge pays.
Jackson Heights pays.
Atlantic Ave pays.

Nassau Street collects.
The receipt Source: Street Vendor Project
$200 from the city.
$25,000 on the street.

New York caps its mobile food vending permits. The city charges about $200 for one. Almost nobody can get one from the city, so vendors lease them from whoever holds them, in cash, for $25,000 and up. Roughly 23,000 people vend on the street in New York and 96 percent of them are immigrants. Sources: amNewYork, Street Vendor Project and the Immigration Research Initiative .

Screenings Official selection 2026

New York Shorts
International
Film Festival

Screened October 11, 2026
Cinema Village, New York
Next screening will be announced here.
Follow for the next date All links
On the corner Production
The cart, the crew and the corner
Omar on the third floor
The Basha's office
Between takes
Service at the window
Lunch rush
Credits Rock Factory Films

Rock Factory Films presents, in association with Gritty Dove, Halal Cart Dreams
Created by Amer J. Hanini Story by Amer J. Hanini   Written by Amer J. Hanini, with co-writers Aymann Ismail and Rachel Jespersen
Starring Fady Demian   Executive Producers Julien "Director X" Lutz, Joshua Perez, Anthony Carvello, Chris Omar and Amer J. Hanini
Director of Photography Joshua Perez   Music by Josh Craig

Rock Factory Films Gritty Dove