A Jihad for Love - gala premiere in Washington DC, May 15
Please join us to support the new documentary film
A JIHAD FOR LOVE
[working title]
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6.30 - 8.30 pm
Left Bank
2424 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
For more information call Ambreen Tariq at 202 544 0200 x 528 and email dcgala@gmail.com.
Hors d'oeuvres, Refreshments, Selected clips from the film, and Q&A with director Parvez Sharma and producer Sandi DuBowski (director of Trembling Before G-d)
Filmed in twelve different countries and in nine languages, A Jihad for Love [formerly titled In the Name of Allah] is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. With unprecedented access and depth, gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma brings to light the hidden lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and goes where the silence has been loudest in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, as well as in Turkey, France, India, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a lonely and often dangerous road. In some nations with a Muslim majority, laws based on Quranic interpretations are enforced by authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western personae of "gay," the relative freedoms of new homelands are mitigated by persistent racial profiling and intensified state surveillance after the terrorist attacks in New York, London and Madrid.
As a result, many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion. But the real-life characters of A Jihad for Love aren't willing to abandon a faith they cherish, despite its flaws. Instead, they struggle to reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being. The international chorus of gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims brought together by A Jihad for Love doesn't seek to vilify or reject Islam, but rather negotiate a new relationship to it. In doing so, the film's extraordinary characters point the way for all Muslims to move beyond the hostile, war-torn present, toward a more hopeful future.
As one can imagine, it was a difficult decision for the subjects to participate in the film due to the violence they could face. However, those who have come forward to tell their stories feel this film is too important for 1.4 billion Muslims and non-Muslims around the world for them to say no. They feel Islam is at a tipping point and they are willing to take the risk.
Our needs for funding are immediate as we edit the film to premiere in Fall 2007.
www.halalfilms.net/dc.html
A JIHAD FOR LOVE
[working title]
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6.30 - 8.30 pm
Left Bank
2424 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
For more information call Ambreen Tariq at 202 544 0200 x 528 and email dcgala@gmail.com.
Hors d'oeuvres, Refreshments, Selected clips from the film, and Q&A with director Parvez Sharma and producer Sandi DuBowski (director of Trembling Before G-d)
Filmed in twelve different countries and in nine languages, A Jihad for Love [formerly titled In the Name of Allah] is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. With unprecedented access and depth, gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma brings to light the hidden lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and goes where the silence has been loudest in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, as well as in Turkey, France, India, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a lonely and often dangerous road. In some nations with a Muslim majority, laws based on Quranic interpretations are enforced by authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western personae of "gay," the relative freedoms of new homelands are mitigated by persistent racial profiling and intensified state surveillance after the terrorist attacks in New York, London and Madrid.
As a result, many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion. But the real-life characters of A Jihad for Love aren't willing to abandon a faith they cherish, despite its flaws. Instead, they struggle to reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being. The international chorus of gay, lesbian and transgender Muslims brought together by A Jihad for Love doesn't seek to vilify or reject Islam, but rather negotiate a new relationship to it. In doing so, the film's extraordinary characters point the way for all Muslims to move beyond the hostile, war-torn present, toward a more hopeful future.
As one can imagine, it was a difficult decision for the subjects to participate in the film due to the violence they could face. However, those who have come forward to tell their stories feel this film is too important for 1.4 billion Muslims and non-Muslims around the world for them to say no. They feel Islam is at a tipping point and they are willing to take the risk.
Our needs for funding are immediate as we edit the film to premiere in Fall 2007.
www.halalfilms.net/dc.html