Reflections on Bronx Princess

Eid Mubarak to everyone!

Bronx Princess is an independent film that premiered last night on PBS at 10 p.m. If you missed it, you can watch it online for a month starting today.

During a Qiyam I planned for the youth at my Masjid this past Ramadan, we held a discussion with about fifteen 11 to 16 year olds about the American-Muslim identity. To say the least, the open discussion ended with the girls on their feet arguing with each other in small groups about who was American, who wasn't, the definition of an American, of American-Muslim. Not much of a conclusion was made.

Rocky Otoo and her search and struggle to find her identity is not a secluded story - just one that you don't hear very often. Bronx Princess was about the discussion of identity and who we are in America (mostly from the point of view of American born children of immigrants).

Though I felt the movie transitioned too quickly between the events of Rocky's summer, filmmakers Yoni Brook & Musa Syeed did a great job telling her story and captured touching & intimate moments with her mother especially as well as with her father.

Bronx Princess also brought back memories of the first (and only) time I went to Syria and the culture shock I got from being in a strange country where my parents grew up and I had no clue about. It wasn't until the end of my trip and after I left till I truly understand, appreciate and was able to love Syria which in turn helped me understand who I am today.

Hopefully the girls at the Masjid can watch this movie (found here), relate to it and and help them understand their identity as well.

Ramadan Mubarak!

Ramadan Mubarak to Everyone... I've definitely been MIA for some time, but I am also determined to keep going with this project, inshaAllah.

Ramadan puts an extra emphasis on the Quran and worship in the middle of the night. (aka, stop watching movies and TV right now and focus on Allah)

In the coming days, I will be posting several good readings that will be beneficial during Ramadan compiled from both the Rihla and ALIM programs this year, inshaAllah.

A good book,used as text at the Rihla program this year, is Purification of the Heart , with the translation and commentary by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

The second appendix in the back of the book talks specifically about Ramadan and how this is the perfect time to focus on getting rid of all these diseases of the heart.

Even if we have been unable to focus in the past week, we should really make our intention and strive to make it our best from now on.

Shaykh Hamza writes "Without effort and sincere trust, Ramadan can easily be just another 30 days in a year, no special moment. Even for those who fast, who mechanically deprive themselves without striving to reach deep into their souls for spiritual lessons, replenishment, and climbing , the month comes and goes with only the sense of inconvenience and then a celebration at the end. Then life goes on as it did the months of the year before. One cannot help but notice a tragedy in this: God so generously opens portals in time, truly special opportunities for us to grow, learn, and build for our Hereafter, yet people turn away from it with casual notice and perfunctory interest" (Pgs. 187-188)

May Allah strengthen us to make this our best Ramadan yet. ameen.

With that said, some good people to follow on twitter this Ramadan is Halal Boy .Add him on facebook and read his hilarious diary entries as he writes about his adventures during Ramadan.
(more on why his name is "Halal Boy" here).

Another project going on in New York City is 30 Mosques in 30 Days led by Aman Ali & Bassam Tariq .

Enjoy!

UK Muslim Youth

I recently attended a MYNA Leadership conference as a counselor and was able to meet an amazing sister, Sr. Faridha Karim, representing from Muslim Youth Helpline of the UK. Great organization, mashaAllah.

The organization also has a website for youth, Muslimyouth.net with campaigns to get Muslim youth in the UK active.

One of their documentaries on Muslim youth involved gang violence, titled Second Chance is especially interesting and brings awareness to a really important issue in the Muslim community.

Why we need an American-Muslim Tyler Perry

Hands down, Tyler Perry is cool.

The first Tyler Perry movie I saw was Diary of a Mad Black Woman. While I watched the making of the movie, I realized that this was Perrys’ first film ever. And in my opinion, his best one yet. It was a combination of a drama, comedy, love story and family movie all in one. At the same time, he promoted the idea of the ideal Black Christian family.

Perry's movies make it clear that he knows what he wants as far as portraying the ideal Black Christian community – and using his movies to give people that positive image of what to attain. Besides his TV sitcoms, I have yet to see a Tyler Perry movie without a church scene in it – which is usually the same scene where the family’s troubles all unravel and fix themselves – all because they had trust in God.

No matter what the problem is, in the end, the church is where their problems are solved.

So basically Perry is legit because he's proud of who he is and he is using movies to affirm his identity, and that is something that we, as American Muslims can learn from. This is so we don’t not push away our identity, but to embrace it.

-ScreenRighter with help from FilmMaqam

Re-Focus...

After a short hiatus, I've come to the conclusion to change the direction of this blog, inshaAllah.

My goal inshaAllah is to change the focus of this blog. InshaAllah I will be posting up links to cool short videos that have positive messages or relay a good concept and then asking questions in order to start a discussion.

I will also try to focus more on independent short films - mostly because independent movies usually do not have to stick to Hollywood or mass media audience restrictions of excessive and unnecessary violence or sexuality.

The intention inshaAllah, is to use this blog to give Muslims a database for good independent movies to watch as an alternative to the junk that is out there today.

Here's a good start with a short film on youtube. Really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao

What morals are portrayed in this short film? Can something as simple as Free Parking (or something else?) really change the world? What symbolism is portrayed in the movie?

Hijabtrendz.com Exclusive!

Check out the interview by Mariam Sobh with Iman Zawahry, a Muslim Filmmaker!

http://hijabtrendz.com/2009/03/30/hijabtrendz-exclusive-iman-zawahry/

Want to be a Filmmaker?

By ScreenRighter

The following is an article based on an interview by ScreenRighter with Murad Amayrah, a film maker, producer and director. He is also head of productions for the Mass Media Foundation.

Murad Amayrah has simple advice for aspiring film makers: Grab a camera and make a film.

It’s probably going to suck, he said, but you’ll be able to discover your strength and weaknesses and build your skills from there.

Amayrah said there are three things that you need to worry about when making a film: Your story, your story, and your story.

Just pull out your laptop or pen and start writing, he said. Then shoot the film.

"Even if the movie has bad camera work, if you have a good solid story, then people will watch your movie," he said.

If you really want to learn the rules of filmmaking, go to film school, Amayrah advises, because “you have to know the rules of film making - so that you can break them.”

"Show [your movie] to people, take their criticism," he said. "You might discover that you're good at one or two things but not so good at another."

Another mistake is when people want to go into film school without knowing what it really entails, he said.

Find out which schools let you experiment, and remember that making movies doesn’t have to mean following Hollywood plots frequent with sex and violence.

"I personally do not believe you have to compromise your values to get into the industry," he said.

He points to “Paradise Now” and “Crash,” as major films with good morals.

He also cautions Muslims who want to use film making as a form of dawah to focus foremost on the art forms true purpose, which is to tell stories.

"If you want to do dawah, he says, "Go do a dawah table.”

Muslim’s often have a different perspective on life that can help them offer something that other’s cant, he said. Have a different perspective on life, on stories, for example, so they bring to the table something different, he said.

One example he presents is a story from hadith or Quran or even a story about a girl who struggled to wear the Hijab.

“To us that’s something that’s very standard, but to our audience that we're trying to reach, that is a unique story, they've never heard of a story like that,” he said.

Movies with a good story do get a chance to get to Hollywood, he said. On the other hand, no buying power is a reason Muslim filmmakers have a hard time making it big.

"Muslims don't buy Islamic films, we bootleg them," he said, pointing to the gay community as an example of how to be supportive.

"Any time that they made a movie with a gay character, they bought it off the shelf," he said, adding that major Hollywood companies are not going to buy movies that people won't buy.

He points to filmmaker Mustafa Akkad, who made “The Message” but lost money on it and had to make “Halloween.”

"It’s very frustrating when your own community is not supporting us," he said.

How Films Impact Us

I would bet you that an overwhelming majority of the world's population know what a film is. We can't assume that everyone has seen a film of course, but I'm sure that most people in most populations around the world, would be able to say they know what a film is.

So what is a film? Well in this context, a film is a feature-length fictional narrative. Let's not forget of course, that we have short films and documentaries, but in the popular and mainstream sense of the word, movies, or films, are typically 90 minutes to over 3 hours (ahem, the subcontinent), and are based on stories.

That's really what it comes down to – storytelling. The history of motion pictures is of telling stories through film, and now also through video. Name a topic or issue and there's probably a film about it. Films are also about conflict – conflict drives the story. At the heart of the narrative is the conflict. Without the conflict, internal or external of the characters, there would be no story. And that goes for fiction and documentary films.

So what sort of impact and influence do films have on us? Well ok, this should be obvious. They make us cry, they make us laugh, they make us scared, and sometimes sad or even frustrated. Films have a considerable influence on us, and not just on how we feel, but also on how we think about and perceive our world.

I will demonstrate with a couple of examples. Rang De Basanti was a massive Hindi film that came out in 2006, and starred Aamir Khan, my all-time favourite Indian actor. RDB's story and conflict is essentially about how the ruling elite of India today can be just as oppressive and ruthless as the British who colonized India. This film raised my awareness of the corruption in the Indian government and also gave me a better understanding of Indian revolutionaries, who are shown during the time of British India.

So films can have a positive influence on us and can raise our awareness of certain issues or communities. On the other hand, some films play into stereotypes and thus subversively influence audiences to see the communities represented onscreen in a negative light. I find this to be most prevalent in Hollywood, out of all the film industries. Hollywood films are typically racist, sexist, xenophobic, and so on – and Hollywood producers and directors think nothing of it. A classic example is John Ford's The Searchers with John Wayne, which depicted Native Americans as being utter savages – violent, bloodthirsty, and primitive. Effectively, this portrayal was a dehumanization of Native Americans. Such depictions certainly influenced audiences' perception and understanding of Native Americans extremely negatively.

The films that we see have a significant role in shaping our understanding of the world around us, including people different from you and me, and on social issues. Don't think for a moment that you're an exception – trust me, you're not. Visual images have an accumulative effect and can either positively or negatively impact our thinking and understanding. It's up to you to decide what you watch. I recommend you watch films that are entertaining but will also educate you and provide you with more perspective on our world.

- Hena Ashraf is a filmmaker with interests in photography, writing, and new media. She founded the Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival in the summer of 2008, and is a fierce advocate for the making and use of independent media.