By Duke Helfand
LOS ANGELES -- “A Jihad for Love” might not be the blockbuster movie of the season, but the new documentary about the plight of gay and lesbian Muslims is enjoying a degree of acclaim as it casts light on a subject often shrouded in mystery.
The film’s gay Muslim director, Parvez Sharma, has spent the past year touring theaters and festivals.
“A Jihad for Love” was the documentary centerpiece last week at Outfest, a gay and lesbian film festival in Los Angeles. On Aug. 1, it opens in West Hollywood and Palm Springs.
Filmed surreptitiously in 12 countries over six years, the movie offers a window into the distraught lives of gay and lesbian Muslims as they struggle to reconcile their sexual orientation with their devotion to a faith that condemns their way of life.
Some are beaten or imprisoned. Others are forced to flee their homelands. Several have their faces obscured in the film to protect their identities and their families from reprisals.
But Sharma, 35, a former journalist in India, said he did not intend to attack Islam but to open a dialogue about a dilemma that forces people to endure lives of quiet desperation. Read more ...
LOS ANGELES -- “A Jihad for Love” might not be the blockbuster movie of the season, but the new documentary about the plight of gay and lesbian Muslims is enjoying a degree of acclaim as it casts light on a subject often shrouded in mystery.
The film’s gay Muslim director, Parvez Sharma, has spent the past year touring theaters and festivals.
“A Jihad for Love” was the documentary centerpiece last week at Outfest, a gay and lesbian film festival in Los Angeles. On Aug. 1, it opens in West Hollywood and Palm Springs.
Filmed surreptitiously in 12 countries over six years, the movie offers a window into the distraught lives of gay and lesbian Muslims as they struggle to reconcile their sexual orientation with their devotion to a faith that condemns their way of life.
Some are beaten or imprisoned. Others are forced to flee their homelands. Several have their faces obscured in the film to protect their identities and their families from reprisals.
But Sharma, 35, a former journalist in India, said he did not intend to attack Islam but to open a dialogue about a dilemma that forces people to endure lives of quiet desperation. Read more ...
Source: LA Times
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