The British capital, London, is preparing to host a “Muslim Film Festival” for Islamic films, challenging the stereotypical image of Muslims.
The film festival director, Sajid Farda, announced that London is getting ready to host a film festival aimed at “celebrating Muslim cinema” and “highlighting stories that are not usually told.”
Farda explained that the festival aims to redefine the terms “Muslim” and “Islam” in the face of the negative image often portrayed by the media.
The festival will showcase films recorded for its first edition, including works related to the British-Pakistani Oscar-winning star Riz Ahmed, as well as his counterpart Nabhan Rizwan, one of the stars of the police series “The Informer.”
The festival is scheduled to take place between May 30 and June 2, 2024. Farda added that the global perspective towards Muslims has undergone significant changes after the events of September 11, linking them negatively to terrorism, emphasizing that this classification is unfair and not a true representation of Muslim communities.
He stated, “The portrayal of Muslims as synonymous with terrorists began to emerge. It is one of the intellectual images associated with Muslims and has been unintentionally linked to them just by thinking about them. This negative classification is not real for our Muslim communities.”
It is worth mentioning that Sajid Farda founded the British Charity for Islamic Films to support talents and voices facing underrepresentation or low representation, due to the scarcity of films from the Islamic world on cinema festival platforms.
