Recently, The Atlantic posted a short film produced by the Thomas Reuters Foundation (trust.org) about one Syrian woman’s new life, Starting Over in the Netherlands. It begins by showing a picturesque view of the city, Kessel-Eik, as the woman, Hanadi, bikes through it. As a tranquil melody plays, we see a church behind trees, a […]

With an accolade of awards and recognition for her screenwriting, including her work in progress film, Jinn which has already received several high ratings on the industry script database, Shereen Malherbe speaks to filmmaker Nijla Mu’min about her new highly anticipated first feature film. SM: Tells us about your film Jinn in a snapshot. NM: […]

In a recent VICE News short documentary, The Kohistan Story: Killing for Honor, producers Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Saad Zuberi, along with host Hani Taha, tell the story of five young women and three young men who were killed in Kohistan, KPK, Pakistan in an apparent “honour killing.” As VICE explains: “In May 2012, a grainy […]

I am not a Star Wars fan. I actually fell asleep marathoning the first three (Episodes IV, V and VI) with my sons. But I was excited for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And it was for one reason; the diverse cast. A female lead! A Black StormTrooper! A Latino pilot! Yes! Sign me up. […]

Kashif Pasta is the founder of Dunya, a communications agency that aims to bring relatable narratives to South Asian and Muslim communities in North America. He and his team recently produced Zoya, a short film following a high school girl who doesn’t quite expect her peers’ reactions when she decides to experiment with hijab.   […]

Crossposted on Arab Hyphen Dégradé, a film by Palestinian twin brothers Tarzan and Arab Abou Nasser, forces the viewer into a claustrophobic situation and cranks up the tension to an almost unbearable degree.  The title (which refers to a layered haircut but also evokes the word degradation) is an apt one, as the film uses the enclosed […]

Emma Watson met with Malala Yousafzai in an interview posted online this week. I will let you draw your own conclusions (more sources here and here). Speaking of Malala, U.S. Presidential candidate Marco Rubio named her as someone he would like to have a beer with. The Republican Party, always with its fingers on the […]

Palestinian rap group Dam’s latest song “Who You Are,” featuring newest member Maysa Daw tackles misogyny and “make believe feminism.” As one of the groups members, Tamer Nafer, puts it: we need to “criticize the hypocritical part of our society, which likes to play ‘make believe feminism’ from time to time.” This is not the […]

A few months ago, I wrote about the “rediscovery” of Noor Inayat Khan, from the 2011 campaign to commemorate her, to the biography, Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan by Shrabani Basu to the planned docu-drama, which at the time I had not yet watched. I have since watched the one-hour film, which is […]

“Breaking-barriers”, “challenging ideas”, and “crashing stereotypes” are just some of the words used to describe the activity of a popular group of Palestinian athletes known as the “Speed Sisters.” In 2009, this group of intrepid Christian and Muslim women started out as a racing team of eight, with the support of the Palestine Motor Sports […]