Giveaways include tickets to a Youssou N’Dour film, the BAM Film series, Parissa: classical Persian music, Dance Theater of Indonesia, and more…the festival runs from June 5-14. Enter for your chance to win; See entry rules and details here. The deadline for entry is June 1, 2009.
THIRTEEN is proud to partner with BAM, Asia Society and New York University’s Center for Dialogues on Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas, a celebration of the extraordinary range of artistic expression and perspectives in the Muslim World. The unprecedented city-wide festival and conference, which will take place June 5-14, brings together Muslim artists and speakers from as far away as Asia, Africa and the Middle East and as near as Brooklyn for a diverse showcase of performance, films, exhibitions, talks, and other cultural events.
Programming highlights include Reel 13 Indies: Le Grand Voyage, the story of a French-Moroccan college student who accompanies his father on a pilgrimage to Mecca (Sat 6th, 10:50 p.m.). SundayArts presents The Music of Islam (Sun 7th, 12 noon), while Wide Angle spotlights the hosts of a popular Middle East talk show in Dishing Democracy (Mon 8th, 10 p.m.). And P.O.V. traces the unique spiritual journey of Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Perez in New Muslim Cool (Tue 23rd, 10 p.m.).
For educational resources related to Islamic holidays, traditions and cultures, visit Access Islam, a pioneering new tool designed to support the study of Islam in grades 4-8. Comprising over 100 minutes of digital video from the award-winning PBS series Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, the site also contains downloadable lesson plans and resources related to Islamic holidays, traditions and cultures. All materials are designed to offer both students and teachers exciting new ways to bring to life a fuller understanding of Muslims the world over.
6/6, 10:55pm
REEL 13 INDIES: LE GRAND VOYAGE (2004) (108’)
A young French-Moroccan preparing for his bachelor exams reluctantly complies with his fathers demands to accompany him on his religious pilgrimage to Mecca — driving across Europe in a broken-down car. Directed by Ismael Ferroukhi.
6/7, 12 noon
SundayArts: A Thousand and One Voices: The Music of Islam
Discover the great musical diversity of Islam. Tunisian director Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud delves into the heart of the mystical universe and its most sophisticated musical expression — from the animated litanies of Senegal to the ancestral rites of Egypt and Tunisia, from Indian music to Turkish cosmic dances.
6/13, 10:55pm
REEL 13 INDIES: CONFESSIONS OF A GAMBLER (2007) (92’)
A devout muslim woman from Cape Town’s working-class Malay Muslim community finds her life starts to unravel when she becomes hooked on slot machines at the local casino. Stars Rayda Jacobs and is based on her own award-winning novel.
6/8, 10-11pm
WIDE ANGLE: DISHING DEMOCRACY*
WIDE ANGLE follows 4 courageous, controversial women, stars of a mega-hit Middle East television show, Kalam Nawaem (Sweet Talk). Of varying ages and ethnicities, these four have captured the imagination of the Middle Eastern and International television viewers—despite tackling sensitive and controversial issues–including domestic violence, social and political equality between the sexes, and sexual mores. In the process, they have become an unexpected force for social reform.
6/10, 10-11pm
AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS: STAND-UP: MUSLIM AMERICAN COMICS COME OF AGE*
An inspiring (and hilarious) chronicle of how Muslim and Arab American comedians in the wake of 9/11 use humor to take on the stereotypes about Middle Easterners and terrorism.
6/12, 10-11pm
WIDE ANGLE: CLASS OF 2006*
In May, 2006, an Imam academy in the city of Rabat, Morocco holds a graduation ceremony. But the Class of 2006 is no ordinary group of students. 50 of the graduates are women—pioneers–the first contemporary group of women to be officially trained as religious leaders in the Arab world. Wide Angle follows the journey from student to spiritual guides–and its impact of their lives.
6/13, 1:00-2:00pm
SHIFTING SANDS: THE STORY OF BEDOUIN WOMEN AT A CROSSROADS
Through personal stories and encounters, Shifting Sands shows how Bedouin men and women have dealt with their changing society and how the clash between modernity and tradition leads to turmoil, as well as to social and individual transformation.
6/14, 11:30-12:30pm
ON A WING AND A PRAYER: AN AMERICAN MUSLIM LEARNS TO FLY*
This cinema verite doc follows a Muslim American as he pursues his American Dream to obtain a pilot’s license–this, in the aftermath of 9/11.
6/15, 10-11pm
AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS: THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN*
An America at a Crossroads film chronicling several seasons of life in a West Virginia mosque. As the community confronts a challenge from a local Muslim feminist, the conflict becomes a lens to explore the larger dilemmas facing American Islam.
6/23, 10-11:30pm
P.O.V.: NEW MUSLIM COOL
The story of Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Perez–a former drug dealer, who leaves street life to become a Muslim. New Muslim Cool follows Hamza as he seeks to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family, and deliver his message of faith through hard-hitting hip-hop music. It’s a spiritual journey through streets, slums, jail cells and some surprising places, in an America that never stops changing.
*Check the schedule for late-night repeats
