Parvez Sharma was raised Muslim in India and although he does have some feeling for his religion, he is by no means devout. ", The film producer Sandi DuBowski and Director/Producer Parvez Sharma launched the International Muslim Dialogue Project in 2008. And should it be aiming at that? A Jihad for Love (preceded by a short film called In the Name of Allah) is a 2008 documentary film and was the world's first film on Islam and homosexuality. Instead, they struggle to reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being. I saw the film a while back … “A Jihad for Love” is a dispatch from the outer limits of marginalization: a documentary on devout Muslims struggling with their homosexuality. At best, society adopts a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach – do what you will, just don't advertise it. In this film we meet several characters engaged in their personal Jihad's for love. “A Jihad for Love” is rich with compelling, often heartbreaking stories. [18][19], Sharma was labeled an apostate (kaafir-Arabic), a crime punishable by death by the Tablighi Jamaat in South Africa and several high ranking Salafi/Wahhabi Sheikhs in Saudi Arabia.[20][1][2]. The film screened at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco on June 28, 2008, and the Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival on July 13, 2008. "[75], The various distributors and their Total Rating Points in European television, the Indian/South-Asian sale with its claimed footprint of 15 billion viewers, the theatrical release and the purportedly large numbers of Netflix viewers made the filmmakers and the TRP experts (a term used in South Asia for audience measurement) arrive at a number of eight million total viewers calculated over a period of four years for this documentary. "A Jihad For Love" is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. ‘Love jihad’ is a term coined by religious fundamentalist groups, alleging a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert non-Muslim girls in the guise of love. With unprecedented access and depth, Sharma brings to light the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Muslims from countries like Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, France, India, and … An insight into the turbulent lives and loves of a gay clique based in Los Angeles. Press reports about the Singapore ban, for example said "About 14 percent of Singapore's 4.4 million population is Muslim. ", In 2015 he launched a global Muslim empowerment endeavor called Project 786. "I would shoot touristy footage on the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes of a tape, hoping that if the tape was actually confiscated at customs ... they would not find the key part of the interviews, because they would just scroll through the beginning or the end," Sharma says. Careers. He took these extraordinary precautions to not reveal the identity of his subjects and in many cases to save his own life. During the making of the film, Sharma always worked undercover without government protection. • A Jihad for Love by Mohamed El Bachiri (Head of Zeus, £5.99). ", "A Gay Muslim Filmmaker Goes Inside the Hajj", "First Run takes US theatrical and DVD on Jihad For Love", "Shooting People » A Jihad for Love – currently playing at IFC Center", "A Jihad for Love - Panel Discussion Follows | The Audre Lorde Project", "A Sinner in Mecca: This Gay Muslim Risked His Life to Reveal a Side of Islam Most Have Never Seen - Towleroad", "Film Screenins at the Athena on Islam and LGBTQ - Ohio University | College of Arts & Sciences", "A Jihad for Love | Hartley Film Foundation", "A Jihad For Love: Calendar: IU Cinema: Indiana University Bloomington", "Rent Movies and TV Shows on DVD and Blu-ray - DVD Netflix", "A JIHAD FOR LOVE:::A FIlm by Parvez Sharma", "A Jihad for Love Wins at GLAAD Media Awards", "A Jihad for Love - Dschihad für die Liebe", "Documentaries on Religion, Spirituality and Cults", "Calling for "A Jihad for Love" - AfterEllen", "Spotlight on Documentary: A JIHAD FOR LOVE", "A Jihad for Love: Film Screening and Discussion | Center for International Studies", "Singapore censors ban films on terrorism, homosexual, fetish", "Fridae | 'A Jihad for Love' shown on Indian TV network and website", "More hate mail-"How dare you call yourself a Muslim" - A Sinner in Mecca", "Filme: Queer Middle East | Boell Calendar", "A Jihad for Love: Being Gay in the Muslim World at microscopiq", "A Jihad for Love and its worldwide impact - A Sinner in Mecca", Director of Film on Muslim Homosexuals Frets over His Subjects' Safety, GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives, It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Jihad_for_Love&oldid=1015822115, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Best Documentary, The Tri-Continental Film Festival, India, This page was last edited on 3 April 2021, at 19:26. A Jihad for Love (preceded by a short film called In the Name of Allah) is a 2008 documentary film and was the world's first film on Islam and homosexuality. Get unlimited DVD Movies & TV Shows delivered to your door with no … The nature of the work placed him at considerable personal risk. He means the radical clerics who have become the face of Islam in the West. The documentary film A Jihad for Love follows the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims living in places around the world, including Egypt, Iran, India, Turkey, Canada, and France.The film follows these individuals in underground subcultures for homosexual communities in Muslim countries and as immigrants to the West where their lifestyles are more acceptable in public. A Jihad for Love is produced by Halal Films, in association with the Sundance Documentary Film Fund, Channel 4 Television (UK), ZDF (Germany), Arte (France-Germany), Logo (US) and SBS (Australia). Some are even gay. Its most notable use in Al-Fatiha, the opening passage of the Qur'an, which begins Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim. Fourteen centuries after the revelation of the holy Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad, Islam today … A Jihad for Love is the worlds first film on Islam and homosexuality, billed universally as “seminal” and winning numerous awards worldwide. To order a copy for £4.99, go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. The majority of Muslims believe that homosexuality is forbidden by the Qur'an and many scholars quote Hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad) to directly condemn homosexuality. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? We need to have jihad against extremism in society so we can learn to love the sinning person that is struggling, even though we hate their sin. However, the film is actually a 2008 film since it began its wide film festival, theatrical, broadcast, networks, and streaming runs in the same year. • A Jihad for Love by Mohamed El Bachiri (Head of Zeus, £5.99). [5], A Jihad for Love was screened at more than a hundred film festivals including:[6], The Toronto International Film Festival, Canada, September 2007, The Rio Film Festival, Brazil, September 2007, The Morelia Film Festival, Mexico, October 2007, The Sheffield Documentary Film Festival, UK, November 2007, The Out in Africa Film Festival in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, November 2007, MIX BRASIL, São Paulo Brasil, November 2007, The Image + Nation Film Festival, Montreal, Canada, November 2007, The Tri-Continental Film Festival in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, India, January 2008, The Berlin Film Festival, Germany, February 2008, Ambulante Documentary Film Festival, 16 cities in Mexico, February–April 2008 Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Greece, March 2008, London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, UK, March 2008, The Istanbul International Film Festival, April 2008, Singapore International Film Festival, April 2008, Frameline Film Festival, San Francisco, USA June 2008, Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia, July 2008, Special underground screenings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Lahore, Pakistan, The movie won several international awards including:[59], The film went on to win 15 other international awards including the GLAAD Media Award on June 30, 2009. Check out our gallery of the 2021 Oscar nominees in the leading and supporting acting categories, as the characters they so brilliantly played and in real life. They also said that the film's sale and broadcast on NDTV, South Asia's largest network in 2008 would have a "remarkable" impact. The New Yorker said,[84], Sharma, the filmmaker, grew up twenty minutes from the Darul Uloom, an important center of Islamic learning in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. Marc et Philippe are two of the counsellors. In many nations with a Muslim majority, laws based on Quranic interpretations are enforced by authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Homosexuality is not a comfortable, much less a popular, topic among Muslims. It was one of Netflix's earliest acquisitions. In January last year, the Syro-Malabar Church, one of the largest church bodies in Kerala, issued a statement raising concerns about Christian women being “targeted” through ‘love jihad’. Filmmaker Parvez Sharma had dual motivations: first, to challenge the mindset that Muslim and gay are mutually exclusive, and second, to challenge the Western world's own Islamophobia. He is Muslim. Sharma was forced to employ guerrilla film-making tactics in Islamic countries where he knew he would never be granted government permission for his taboo subject matter. "Being gay and Muslim myself, I knew that this film had to be about us all coming out— as Muslims. A Jihad for Love, Sharma's debut as a director, is a highly personal documentary informed by his own status as both Muslim and gay. And so, I too, call for a jihad for love". [24], The film was made available on Amazon Prime and iTunes. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western personae of "gay" or "queer," the relative freedoms of new homelands are mitigated by persistent racial profiling and intensified state surveillance after the attacks of 9/11 and train bombings in Madrid and London. The Film Sales Company . ", Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, "A Jihad for Love: Excerpts From A Work-In-Progress", "Cinema Q: A Jihad For Love | Denver Film Society | Parvez Sharma | USA", "A Sinner in Mecca review – Islam, homosexuality and the hope of tolerance", "Parvez Sharma, A Jihad For Love | Filmmaker Magazine", "Jeremy Kay on A Jihad for Love, a film about Islam and homosexuality", "SPIEGEL ONLINE Interview with Indian Director Parvez Sharma: 'A Jihad for Love' Gives Voice to Gay Muslims", "A list of Lesbian Documentaries | LGBTQ", "Muslim on Muslim Violence | Doctor Bulldog & Ronin | Page 27", "TIFF 2007: OCUMENTARY: FOR FILM ON GAY MUSLIMS, TIFF IS BEGINNING OF A MISSION", "New Herzog in the TIFF 07 Documentary Lineup! The film was shown in film festivals in Hong Kong, Tokyo and in Jakarta, Indonesia at the recently concluded Q Film Festival." His name is Mohamed. “A Jihad for Love” became one of the most popular products in its category on Netflix and Amazon and by sub-titling the DVD in eight “Muslim” languages we have ensured the longevity and broad reach of this film. The Arab media including Katatney and Egypt Today then reported "A Jihad for Love has polarized the discussion of homosexuality among Muslims. [66], The film received extensive publicity worldwide. However, as a resident of the US, post 9/11, he says he felt he had to do something in the battle to represent Islam. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma travels the many worlds of this... Read more . Sharma was forced to employ guerilla filmmaking tactics in Islamic countries where he knew he would never be granted government permission for his taboo subject matter. A Jihad for Love wanders aimlessly from country to country and indulges in long digressions. [46][47][48], Earning more than $22,000 dollars in its first five days in New York City, the film was already breaking records for documentary. gay and lesbian Muslims." 'A Jihad for Love' comes to Beirut Looks like a minor controversy is brewing in Beirut around the screening of Parvez Sharma's A Jihad for Love. For filmmaker Parvez Sharma, ... See full summary ». [40], By 2016, the film had been viewed by an estimated 8 million viewers in 50 nations. Lives in Molenbeek Brussels. It's a difficult book to describe because it covers multiple points: - The story of the author and his wife's murder - The author's view on religion In another example, one of the associate producers, an Egyptian gay man, chose not to be listed in the credits for fear of possible consequences. Even ten years after its release the film continues to resonate for thousands. In doing so, the film's extraordinary characters attempt to point the way for all Muslims to move beyond the hostile, war-torn present, toward a more hopeful future. In January 2020, Syro-Malabar Church had released a strong statement, claiming Christian women were becoming victims of ‘love jihad’. [22][23][24], On November 20, 2007, The New York Times while explaining the methodology of the film, while quoting an interview with the filmmaker said,[25]. Love doesn’t look at logic, or at backgrounds and least of all, religion. After its September 2007 festival release at the Toronto Film Festival the film began to generate worldwide controversy. But "jihad" in Islamic tradition is also understood as an internal, spiritual struggle. Audience Reviews for A Jihad for Love. It isn’t the economy, genius. Editor of Indiewire Eugene Hernandez said, "This long-in-the-works documentary exploring the intersection of homosexuality and Islam will surely provoke discussion. This frustration led to "A Jihad for Love," which presented an opportunity to tell the "story of Islam through its most unlikely storytellers . [35], In an interview to the German magazine Der Speigel, Sharma explained the significance of the title: "I'm not looking at jihad as battle -- I'm looking at the greater jihad in Islam, which is the jihad as the struggle with the self. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma enters the many worlds of Islam by illuminating multiple stories as diverse as Islam itself. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is strongest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option. To reach them, he's "smuggled tapes into Iran and Pakistan," leafleted mosques, blanketed MySpace, and "hosted a screening at a home in Astoria for fifteen key progressive Muslim leaders." Use the HTML below. Fourteen centuries after the revelation of the holy Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad, Islam today is the world's second largest and fastest growing religion. 2007 NR 1h 21m DVD Rent this movie. Instead, as audiences get their first glimpse at the 70-minute documentary filmed in 12 countries and nine languages, Sharma and his producer, Sandi Dubowski, who directed 2001's Trembling Before G-d, will be on the hunt for donations to help pay off the film's post-production costs and fund their planned Muslim Dialogue Project. A Jihad for Love (preceded by a short film called In the Name of Allah) is a 2008 documentary film and was the world's first film on Islam and homosexuality. [17] Sharma wrote the foreword for the two-part anthology Islam and Homosexuality. [55] It was declared "one of the best Netflix movies". Marc is very virile, while Philippe is more reserved. [61][62][63][13][64][65], The scores on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Metacritic indicate that the film was overall rated very positively. Their pursuit of love has brought them into conflicts with their countries, families, and even themselves. I do think that it missed a great opportunity, to "open the eyes" of others (i.e. It took a total of six years to make and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007. [88][89][90][91][35], In a feature titled "How Parvez Sharma made a Jihad for Love", the U.S. based New York magazine said on May 18, 2008,[34], As such, Sharma says his ideal audience is faithful Muslims—and not just "gay white men or activists." After his gay cousin dies from hepatitis, young Laurent, who lives with his best friend Carole, falls in love with Cedric, a plant scientist. After nearly six years, Parvez Sharma will finally show his documentary A Jihad for Love at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday. Nonetheless, A Jihad For Love is a pretty well-made documentary with some technical draw backs that is quite absorbing. [56], Because of its debut at the TIFF in 2007, this film is often confused as a 2007 film. Even if you're gay and/or try to like the movie because of it's idea(ls), you can't close your eyes to it's faults ... at least you shouldn't.While it starts off kind of good (with the person that might easily be the most likable of the bunch), it departs and leaves you bedazzled (in all the wrong ways). [29], The Guardian said, "Dignity and despair are woven tightly together in A Jihad for Love, a six-year endeavour by Indian film-maker Parvez Sharma that explores Islam and homosexuality. A Jihad for Love . Broach the subject in the Middle East, and you're likely to hear a response like the one Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave US audiences last year: "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country." It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008 as the opening documentary film for the Panorama section. [92] The project's website says "Project 786 is a worldwide Outreach, Dialogue and Measurable Change Project aimed at significantly impacting and changing contemporary discourse about Islam, today the world's fastest growing and most contested religion. Metro driver. With the passing of the bill, Gujarat became the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh make a law against 'love jihad'. In a working class neighborhood in Casablanca, Abdellah, a homosexual teen, tries to build his own life within his big family, caught between an authoritarian mother and an older brother, who he adores. In a piece entitled "Two tickets for Jihad Please", which is a direct quote from Parvez Sharma's interview with the Black Filmmakers Collective, the journalist also noted that the film was "critically acclaimed". The majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a lonely and often dangerous road. Hitting out at Mani for withdrawing his statement even after KCBC extended support to him, Kerala Janapaksham leader and Poonjar MLA P C George said "Love Jihad is … As such, Sharma says his ideal audience is faithful Muslims—and not just "gay white men or activists." "I attend the Ninety-sixth Street mosque, in Manhattan," he told me. Add the first question. He remains committed to lesbian visibility now in his career as a filmmaker. [41][42][43][3][44] They bought the film and went on to release it in more than 30 cities in the U.S. alone.This kind of release was rare for a documentary in 2008. As a result, many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion completely. Critics argue that Sharma portrays homosexual activity as permissible in Islam, while they contend that it clearly isn't. That number was quoted in various books over the years. The website Faith in Equality put it at number 9 in a list of LGBT films about faith. The heartfelt and enlightening documentary "A Jihad for Love" takes this topic from a Muslim point of view. Love Jihad (also known as Romeo Jihad) is a conspiracy theory, developed by proponents of Hindutva, that is used to invoke prejudice against Muslims. [1][26] Sharma compiled 400 hours of footage of interviews throughout North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Cinema Politica in a review said, "A Jihad for Love is Mr. Sharma's debut and is the world's first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. It creeps up suddenly. They also accuse Sharma of bias: "As a gay Muslim man, they argue that he began the project with prejudices and a predefined position on homosexuality." straight people). To reach them, he's "smuggled tapes into Iran and Pakistan," leafleted mosques, blanketed MySpace, and "hosted a screening at a home in Astoria for fifteen key progressive Muslim leaders." A confident, out-of-the-closet gay teenager has the support of an eclectic range of friends while dealing with a homophobic bully during his first year at an international high school. A Jihad for Love. [45], At New York's IFC Center, the film ran for four and a half weeks. Director and producer Parvez Sharma and co-producer Sandi Dubowski[21] raised more than a million dollars over a six-year period to make the film. "[13], In 2004, when the film was still in production, The New York Times profiled the filmmaker (it would do so again in 2015)[36] and said:[37]. In a vacation camp somewhere in the French country, 1960. To bring more stringent punishment against forced religious conversions through marriage, Gujarat Vidhan Sabha passed the … "[27], The spokesperson of the Singapore Board of Censors, Amy Chua, said to The Straits Times, "The film was banned from screening at the 2008 Singapore International Film Festival in view of the sensitive nature of the subject that features Muslim homosexuals in various countries and their struggle to reconcile religion and their lifestyle."[74]. A Jihad for Love (preceded by a short film called In the Name of Allah) is a 2008 documentary film and was the world's first film on Islam and homosexuality. This FAQ is empty. Filmmaker Parvez Sharma explores the daily struggles of homosexual Muslims. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007, and has been screened to great acclaim at several film festivals around the world. Sharma called it the "Underground Network Model" of film distribution. Yes it is a documentary with a meaning, but does that justify giving it a great summary and or vote it higher than it really deserves? At the latter festival the film won a special "Teddy". Supplier . [33], Making a documentary about gay and lesbian Muslims in twelve countries was not easy. Rent A Jihad for Love (2007) starring Muhsin Hendricks and A.K. [60], At the time GLAAD said the film won this award for many reasons including it being groundbreaking: "A Jihad for Love wins best documentary at the GLAAD media awards. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is loudest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option. But love happens when you least expect it. Two teenage brothers must face their own prejudices head on if they are to survive the perils of being British Arabs growing up on the streets of gangland London. "[16], The work that Sharma started with the film started to become a staple in many books on Islam and at U.S. University libraries. It was the Opening film for the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2008. It is a revelatory examination of the paradox of Muslims who remain devoutly within the religion despite Islam's persecution of them because of their sexual orientation. In one case, the family of an Afghan woman he interviewed "would undoubtedly kill her" if they found out she was lesbian. Hoosen on DVD and Blu-ray. In the West, the concept of "jihad" has come to be associated primarily with "holy war". View production, box office, & company info. 'A Jihad for Love' Nov. 20, 2007 'In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country." On September 5, 2008, Seattle Times said, "For all the research, courage and passion that went into it, the movie is sometimes curiously one-note. The international chorus of gay and lesbian Muslims brought together by A Jihad for Love doesn't seek to vilify or reject Islam, but rather negotiate a new relationship to it. Moroccan origin. A Jihad for Love is the worlds first film on Islam and homosexuality, billed universally as “seminal” and winning numerous awards worldwide. About. The people in this film have a lot to teach us about love. "[30], The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper said,[31]. TV-G. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] It took a total of six years to make and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007. Churches were attacked after allegations of … He adopted hardcore guerrilla film-making tactics, pretending to be a tourist in one country, a worker for an Aids charity in another. As Mohamed talks of love over hate and of his debilitating grief, I found myself on the edge of tears. “I think my personal story is a love jihad,” says Muhsin, “It’s a struggle and that’s what the word jihad is about.” The documentary illustrates with diverse experiences. On a television program which used clips of the film and Sharma, called The Right Way, Masoud said Sharma was not trained in the Muslim practice of Ijtihad, saying "Only around 20 of over 100,000 companions of the prophet were "ahl estembat" (those who considered themselves qualified enough to actually interpret Qur'an and Hadith). Begin with `` holy war that this film we meet several characters engaged their! Without criticism his career as a result, the phrase ( bismillah in Arabic ) be! Lives and loves of a Jihad for Love by Mohamed El Bachiri Head! That is quite absorbing to contain a teenager 's growing sexual rebellion and her brother dangerous! Four out of 5 stars in the West, the phrase ( in! 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