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 The
story of Islam is told by its most unlikely storytellers...
Filmed in twelve different countries and in nine languages,
A Jihad for Love is the first-ever feature-length documentary
to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality.
With unprecedented access and depth, Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez
Sharma brings to light the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Muslims
and goes where the silence has been loudest in Iran, Pakistan,
Egypt, Turkey, France, India, and South Africa. The majority
of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a lonely and often dangerous
road. 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. 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 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. 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 finish
the film to premiere in 2007.
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a new documentary film.
STATE