A festival starting on October 11 at Manhattan’s SVA Theatre is aiming to change the way Muslims are portrayed in Western media, which often shows a single, flat image.
The New York Muslim Film Festival (NYMFF), which claims to be the first in the city for Muslim filmmakers, wants these filmmakers to share their own stories.
Hassan Babar, the festival’s artistic director, said these stories should not just contradict common stereotypes.
“They should be the main model,” Babar said.
The one-day event will show 12 short films from seven different countries.
The films include documentaries, dramas, comedies, animations, and experimental works.Most of the directors are women.
“this festival exists because those stories deserve a platform in this city, not on the edges of someone else’s,” said Nawal Mubin, the festival’s co-founder and director.
The day will start with a reception for filmmakers and industry guests.
Two blocks of six films each will be shown, with each film lasting about an hour.These will be followed by the awards and the announcement of the jury’s decision.
Emmy winner Aasif Mandvi, a long-time correspondent on “The Daily Show” and a star of the Paramount+ series “Evil,” is part of the six-member jury.
He is joined by Arab-American writer-director Darine Hotait, founder of Cinephilia Productions, whose short films have been on HBO, AMC, SundanceTV, and the BBC; Munir Atalla, head of production and acquisitions at Watermelon Pictures and a former Netflix creative executive; and producer Abubakar Khan, whose work includes “The Glassworker,” Pakistan’s entry for the 2024 Oscars, and SXSW 2023 audience award winner “Mustache.”
The panel also includes Lebanese-American filmmaker Sarah Mokh, a Sundance Feature Film Fellow who recently finished her first feature, “The Alchemy of Being Okay,” which Khan is producing, and Egyptian-American actor Abubakr Ali.
Ali has upcoming roles in Bassam Tariq’s “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” opposite Mahershala Ali, and Sean Durkin’s A24 film “Deep Cuts,” and recently appeared in Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite.”
Streamer Watermelon+ is behind the festival’s Watermelon+ Discovery Award.
The winner, whether a filmmaker or rights holder, will get an exclusive license to show their film on the platform for a limited time.The Islamic Scholarship Fund, New York production and post house Lost in Space, and Aneesa Talks, a group founded by filmmaker Aneesa Khan to support South Asian and Muslim creatives, have also joined as partners.
The films cover a wide range of themes and tones.
Justin Mashouf’s documentary “$17.74” follows a former gang member, who has been in prison since the 1980s, whose support for Gaza from inside prison sparked a wave of viral solidarity.In Karim Emara’s Qatar-U.S.dramedy “Baba Is Melting,” a son calls his father, who is waiting in the car before Friday prayer in Doha, to challenge him over a hidden second marriage.
Zaid Ahmed Hassan’s “Ghusl” focuses on a son whose dying father asks him to learn Islamic burial rites, while Basma Khalifa’s U.K.
experimental piece “Henna” follows the henna plant’s life cycle along with women from 16 African and SWANA countries.Sima Naseem’s Canada-Pakistan animation “My Friend in the Jingle Truck” uses stop-motion and 2D animation to tell the story of a Karachi girl who meets a magical bird.
In Alex Aljouni’s “Bukra,” a young Syrian refugee whose sweepstakes prize is a soccer ball rushes to collect it in time for one last match with her best friend before he is gone for good.
One bold move reopens old rifts among three generations of Afghan women in Negine Jasmine Sekandari and Ayda Rojhantalab’s comedy “Haram Salami,” as they struggle with who they are, what tradition demands, and what they want.
Maram Taibah’s Saudi fantasy “Malika” explores the bond between a girl and her grandmother, as well as the tension between wildness and the obedience expected of girls, through a magical-realist world imagined by a child’s mind.
In Bilal Shams Khan’s Pakistani drama “Sabr O Shukar,” 10-year-old Akram learns about patience and gratitude while chasing his dream of owning a bicycle.
Imran J.
Khan’s “The Boy With Dinosaur Head” tells the story of a troubled boy who believes he is a dinosaur, and the teacher who tries to bring him back to reality.Their short encounter leaves both of them changed.
Ilhan Abdullahi and Sherry Rashidan's Canadian comedy "Unqualified" follows Warsan, the only Muslim at her job, who is given the task of spiritually cleaning a lunchroom that is said to be haunted.
She must get rid of the spirits using her faith and a series of misunderstandings before she loses her job.
Lyna Tadount and Sofian Chouaib's French drama "Ya Hanouni" focuses on two parents who are trying to be the first to say their baby's first word.
Their friendly competition comes to an end when a sudden event changes everything for them.
Babar, an actor and producer based in Toronto, runs programming with Aneesa Khan, who also handles communications.
Mubin, a director and producer from New York, helped start the festival along with filmmaker and post-production expert Giuseppe de Matteis.Both of them work at Lost in Space.
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