Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Thursday, May 24:
A JIHAD FOR LOVE
Director:
Parvez Sharma
Premiere:
Toronto 2007
Select Festivals:
Berlin, Rio, Thessaloniki Doc, Planete Doc Review, Ambulante, Morelia, Sheffield, Istanbul, Melbourne, Reykjavik, Helsinki, LGBT fests in San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Montreal, London, Boston, Miami, Torino, and Zurich
About:
Profiles of gay and lesbian Muslims in several countries.
Timed to the 10th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release in 2018, STF re-presents Sharma’s pioneering project, produced by Sandi duBowski (TREMBLING BEFORE G-D, and exploring the intersection of Islam and homosexuality. Years in the making and filmed at grave personal risk by the filmmaker and his subjects, Sharma’s doc explores the diversity of Muslim lives across more than a half dozen nations, from Iran and Egypt, where there are strict laws against homosexuality, to somewhat more tolerant countries like Turkey and India. A survey of this nature often results in a sense of repetition, more questions than answers, and a lack of context that is sometimes frustrating, but the poignant and at times provocative film succeeds in humanizing its subjects, and, most importantly, providing those who have been silenced with a platform to speak their truth.
what (not) to doc 