Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Film producers Jared Kash and Peter Kash spent much of their time growing up in Bellmore watching movies.
“When I was 11 years old, I remember going to the Bellmore Playhouse on Bedford Avenue and spending hours watching movies and eating a lot of popcorn,” Jared said.
The brothers lead Seymour Kash Productions. They’ve gone from audience members to co-creators of award winning films such as “Tatami.” The movie made its U.S. theatrical release on June 13, following its debut abroad in 2023.
The two brothers were born into a movie-loving family. Seymour Kash, their grandfather and the namesake of their production company, raised generations of family members with a passion for the art.
“He left an impression that that led my dad and myself into storytelling,” Peter said.
“Tatami” is one of the company’s most recent projects, named after the floor mats that many martial arts compete on. It follows protagonist Leila Hosseini, played by actress Arienne Mandi, an ambitious Iranian Judo athlete who hopes to win a gold medal in the World Judo Championships.
The conflict of the movie is not against another athlete — rather, between Hosseini and her country. She is bound by an Iranian law forbidding her from competing against an Israeli opponent at the championship. She refuses to back out of the conflict and the conflict spirals into blackmail, threats made towards her family, and worse.
“The immediate gravitational pull was the script itself,” Jared said. “I was able to finish the entire screenplay within minutes — I just kept on turning the pages, and was on the edge of my seat.”
The appeal of the film is its combination of athletic action and political intrigue.
“This is a thriller on and off the mat, and it's very much a sports movie,” Jared said. “Her goal is to win. She's there as an athlete, and that is paramount to her before anything else.”
Authenticity is a key part of the experience: the film’s cast includes real Judo commentators, and the story is based on real examples of this kind of international incident, such as the cases of Judo champion Saeid Mollaei and weightlifter Mostafa Rajai, both of whom were banned from competing in their sports by the Iranian government.
“Tatami” initially debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in 2023, receiving the Brian Award for its values of freedom, equality and non-discrimination. The film also won Best Actress and the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
In 2024, it was honored with awards from the Camerimage Festival and Munich Film Festival, and earned the Young Cineastes Award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
The film had two directors: Guy Nattiv of Israel and the French-Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi. The film was shot in the country of Georgia, and for the safety of all participants, kept a secret until it was finished filming. The teamwork between the two, much like the message of the movie, highlights what can be achieved with teamwork instead of prejudice, Peter said.
“The movie demonstrates not just overcoming individual struggles that everybody has, and on a macro level collective struggles, but it shows what potentially the world could be,” Peter said.
To learn more about the film and opportunities to see it, visit TatamiMovie.com/Tickets.
