Movie :

In a time, when Islam is under tremendous attack-from within and without-'A Jihadfor Love' is a daring documentary-filmed in twelve countries and nine languages. 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. 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, Sharma brings to light the hidden lives of gay and lesbian Muslims from countries like 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 are willing to take the risk in their quest to lay equal claim to their profoundly held faith

Director :

PARVEZ SHARMA
Parvez Sharma is an Indian film director. He is best known for the film A Jihad for Love, on gay and lesbian Muslims. Parvez Sharma is a New York based writer and filmmaker. His first feature, which he directed and produced, "A Jihad for Love" is an international phenomenon with more than one million viewers in 37 nations in the first year of its release. The film has been premiered at most major international festival venues including a world premier at Toronto in 2007 and a European premiere (as the opening film of Panorama Documentary) in Berlin, 2008. The winner of five international awards, the film has been theatrically released across the US and in Canada and is being broadcast around the world. This documentary deals with the difficult themes of Islam and homosexuality in a post-September 11 world and also seeks to challenge many stereotypes around Islam, in a time when much of the religion and its one billion followers are misunderstood. The film has generated an international media blitz with the New York Times, the Washington Post, The LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle, the Guardian, The Times of London, the Independent, Der Speigel, Stern, Newsweek, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Screen International, BBC, CNN, SBS, ZDF, CBC, NPR, al-Arabiya and hundreds of others writing about and profiling Mr. Sharma's work. He has variously been hailed as a "gifted filmmaker" (WSJ), "frankly brave" (NPR) and "provocative" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "an apostate" (South Africa's Muslim Judicial Council). He has been interviewed on more than 200 radio stations worldwide. Moez Masoud, a young Egyptian daa'y (caller to Islam) and media expert who has studied under traditional scholars (including the Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa) spoke about Parvez's debut film and said "The [documentary] is correct in its use of the term of jihad but defines it incorrectly. When people who have homoerotic desires struggle against their inclinations, they are struggling against an act that satisfies their physical body but is against their spiritual self...jihad is to struggle in the cause of good. It's a struggle for the sake of goodness, beauty, justice and truth. Homoerotic activity is not a manifestation of these universal principles; it's a violation of them and is in antithesis to the spiritual dimension. I love the title [of the movie] but when defined differently. 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. And so, I too, call for a jihad for love." (source: Egypt Today, February 2008). Even though his film has been banned in Singapore and lead to theological condemnation in many countries, Mr. Sharma remains (in his own words) "fatwa-free" as he has become a leading spokesperson on defending Islam and yet being able to speak for urgent reform, as a Muslim. He has conducted and led more than 200 live events across the world talking about Islam and in part its relation to homosexuality. Co-produced with five international broadcasters, France's ARTE, Germany's ZDF, the US Logo, Australian SBS, the British Channel 4 and the Sundance Documentary Fund and Katahdin Foundation, the film has also brought together a historic coalition of foundations and individual donors, making it one of the best funded documentaries of recent times. Mr. Sharma speaks nationally and internationally on college campuses and live theatrical events including conferences and seminars and is represented in the US by premier speakers agency, Keppler Speakers (www.kepplerspeakers.com). He is also a leading commentator on Islamic, racial and political issues with his writings most frequently appearing on The Huffington Post and others. He is engaged in a nationwide speaking tour, current and forthcoming writing (including an anthology on Islam and homosexuality, for which he will write the forward) and in pre-production for a new film, partly set in his home country, India. He has previously worked as television journalist in India and the UK, most notably for India's largest 24-hour news television network NDTV. He also worked with the independent Democracy Now! (in New York) as a Producer and as a print journalist in India and the US for many prominent publications. He was educated in India, the UK and the US and has also in the past been an adjunct professor at American University, developing and teaching that university's first curriculum on Bollywood and other Indian cinemas. The US based OUT Magazine has named Mr. Sharma, one of the OUT 100 for 2008- "one of the 100 gay men and women who have helped shape our culture during the year". He blogs regularly at his extremely popular www.ajihadforlove.blogspot.com and is the winner of the prestigious GLAAD media award for Outstanding Documentary in 2009.