Telling stories of people and lives from the Muslim world
FESTIVAL AIMS TO ‘CONTEST STEREOTYPES’ OF HOW THE COMMUNITY IS USUALLY REPRESENTED
WHEN I tell friends and acquaintances I’m organising a festival of cinema from the Muslim world, they invariably then go on to introduce me to other people as ‘that guy, the one doing a Muslim film festival’.
An Arab acquaintance said, “If you were doing a Palestinian or an Arab film festival, I could get money for you,” and clicked his fingers, “like that.” He thought the festival was about Muslims – hijabs, terrorists, Islam, and that was not his thing. Others, with a more religious bent, were disappointed that it wasn’t a festival about hijabs, Islamic history and religious practices.
The festival is called ‘Qisah’, the Arabic word for “story(ies)” – it therefore represents a long tradition of story-telling across the Muslim world. These stories show the complexity and beauty of this world in a way that contests the stereotypical ways Muslims are represented. The Muslim world is a broad spectrum and this festival aims to widen audiences’ engagement with that world.
But first and foremost, it aims to entertain. These are cracking stories, wonderfully told. Qisah then is a festival of cinema from across the Muslim world rather than a Muslim or Islamic Film festival.
But Qisah also differs from mainstream media representations in the West in that these are films where Muslims represent themselves. Films of ordinary, everyday humdrum existences, of individuals struggling with love, employment, making their way in the world, caught up in desires and aspirations, making mistakes, weighing moral dilemmas and hoping for forgiveness and redemption.
Sure, Muslims can be different, but they are also different from each other and in so many ways, not that different at all. Cinema from the Muslim world is cinema informed by that small difference where culture and history give a recognisable shape and feel, while at the same time, allowing us to see the stories and lives of others. In some of the films religion may be a theme; in others, it is almost entirely absent.
The festival’s curatorial team has selected 14 films from across the Muslim world, including movies from Tanzania, Indonesia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Somalia, Iran as well as from North Africa, the Middle East and from the Muslim diaspora too. In these films one sees the diversity and cultural vibrancy of cinema in Muslim societies as it brings us human stories shaped by broader social, political and economic forces.
Prominent in these films are women’s stories – films with strong female leads exploring issues of gender and patriarchy. This theme was not a pre-selection criteria but something that emerged from the films being made. The role of women and their struggles for equality, as the current protests in Iran exemplify, is one being discussed and contested.
Firouzeh Khosrovani’s award winning and intimate documentary feature, Radiograph of a Family, on how the Iranian revolution of 1979 transformed gender roles and family relations in unexpected ways is a must-see, while Saeed Roustayi’s
Leila’s Brothers is a no-holds-barred family drama in which The Salesman actress, Taraneh Alidoosti, gives a tour de force performance, exemplifying how Muslim women negotiate and challenge patriarchy – a theme that is further explored in five short films by Saudi Arabian women directors in Quareer.
Tug of War, The Gravedigger’s Wife and Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous are stories about love in challenging circumstances, of political revolution, severe illness and migrant lives. Vera Dreams of the Sea, The Exam and Commitment Hasan all address issues of morality, selfishness and corruption, whereas The Assault is a dark comic thriller about the fictions we live by and what we are capable of. Nezouh, a film from war-torn Syria, is a testament to the human spirit in adversity while Our Brothers brings to life the true stories of two young Algerian men killed by police brutality in 1980s Paris. Kamila Andini’s tale of an Indonesian woman (Before Now and Then), caught between desires and memories from her past and the constraints of a respectable life in her present, is a beautifully crafted story of friendship and freedom.
These are confident, compelling films that will leave traces in the memories of all those who see them. Perhaps no other city in the world is as suited as a venue for this festival as London, with its multicultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious populations who, fighting the trend of other parts of the world, are curious about one another. We hope Muslim cinemagoers will come out in their droves and we hope too, that those who have Muslim friends, have been to the Muslim world or are just sceptical about the dominant narrative that is fed to us about Muslims, will want to see these films too. They are – life changing. ■ Ahmed Jamal is a film and television producer who has made ground-breaking and award-winning films. He is the director of the Qisah International Film Festival, which is being held from next Wednesday (9) to next Saturday (12) at the Kiln Cinema (Kilburn), Lyric (Hammersmith) and Rio (Dalston). Tickets are available from www.qiff.co.uk. The festival is supported by the BFI Audience Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery.
‘These are compelling and CONfiDENT fiLMS’