| I Am Gay and Muslim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Chris Belloni |
| Cinematography | Bram Belloni |
Release date |
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Running time | 59 minutes |
| Country | Morocco |
| Language | English |
I Am Gay and Muslim is a 2012 English-language documentary directed by Chris Belloni. Filmed in Morocco, it follows five gay Muslim men as they explore their religious and sexual identity. [1] The film has been screened in more than a dozen countries. [2] [3]
The cinematography was done by Bram Belloni, the director's brother. [3]
On September 28, 2012, the documentary was scheduled to be screened at the sixth annual Bir Duino ("One World") film festival in Kyrgyzstan. Immediately before its screening, the State Committee on Religious Affairs asked the Prosecutor General's office to ban the film. It filed suit in the Prevomaiskii District court, which banned the screening due to likelihooding of "incit[ing] religious intolerance". [4]
Within the Muslim world, sentiment towards LGBT people varies and has varied between societies and individual Muslims, but is contemporarily negative. While colloquial and in many cases de facto official acceptance of at least some homosexual behavior was commonplace in pre-modern periods, later developments, starting from the 19th-century, have created a generally hostile environment for LGBT people. Most Muslim-majority countries have opposed moves to advance LGBT rights and recognition at the United Nations (UN), including within the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBT social movements.
Parvez Sharma is a New York-based Indian filmmaker, author, and journalist. He is a recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship in the film/video category. He was amongst the 173 fellows selected from 3000 applicants in the 94th year of the fellowship, which originally started in 1925. In an official press release by the foundation, president Edward Hirsch said, "The winners of the 94th annual competition as "the best of the best...This diverse group of scholars, artists, and scientists are appointed on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise." Sharma is best known for his two films A Jihad for Love,A Sinner in Mecca, and his 2017 book A Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim's Hajj of Defiance. A Jihad for Love was the world's first film documenting the lives of gay and lesbian Muslims. He received the 2009 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary amongst several other international awards for A Jihad for Love. In 2016, Sharma was named "a human rights defender" by Amnesty International. This was an award given at the Hague in the Netherlands to "worldwide human rights activists" which he shared with the Saudi human rights activist Ensaf Haidar.
A Jihad for Love is a 2008 documentary film and was the world's first film on Islam and homosexuality. It took a total of six years to make and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2007. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008 as the opening documentary film for the Panorama section.
Final Solution is a 2004 documentary film directed by Rakesh Sharma concerning the 2002 Gujarat riots in the state of Gujarat in which 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed. Hindu right wing organizations were made responsible for these riots which took place as a "spontaneous response" to the killing of 70 Hindu Pilgrims in the Godhra Train Burning by a mob of radical muslims on 27 February 2002. But as the film proceeds with victims continuing to come forward and share their experiences, a more unsettling possibility seems to emerge- that far from being a spontaneous expression of outrage. The makers of the film claim that the violence had been carefully coordinated and planned.
Moscow Pride is a demonstration of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons (LGBT). It was intended to take place in May annually since 2006 in the Russian capital Moscow, but has been regularly banned by Moscow City Hall, headed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov until 2010. The demonstrations in 2006, 2007, and 2008 were all accompanied by homophobic attacks, which was avoided in 2009 by moving the site of the demonstration at the last minute. The organizers of all of the demonstrations were Nikolai Alekseev and the Russian LGBT Human Rights Project Gayrussia.ru. In June 2012, Moscow courts enacted a hundred-year ban on gay pride parades. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled that such bans violate freedom of assembly guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights.
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Islam is the main religion in Kyrgyzstan and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
"Side by Side" Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival is an international film festival that seeks to explore the issues of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender (LGBT) through art cinema. Since 2008 it has taken place every autumn in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In addition, various special events are held almost every month, and since 2009 film showings and discussions have also been conducted in other parts of Russia.
Moscow Pride '06 is a documentary movie of the 2006 gay pride parade in Moscow.
Tolekan Asanalievna Ismailova is a Kyrgyz human rights defender and director of Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan since May 2000, the Executive Secretary of the Kyrgyzstan NGOs Forum and founding president of Kyrgyzstan's Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2012.
Ocean of Tears is a 2012 short documentary film directed by Billal A Jan in Kashmiri produced by Rajiv Mehrota under the banner of Public Service Broadcasting Trust of India (PBST). The film is a documentary of the crimes and human rights violations imposed on the people of Kashmir, especially on women. The film covers the mass rape incident of Kunan Poshpora.
Gayby Baby is a 2015 Australian documentary film directed by Maya Newell that follows four children raised by same-sex parents.
Cassie Jaye is an American film director, best known for directing the 2016 documentary film The Red Pill about the men's rights movement.
Eliane Raheb is a documentary filmmaker and director from Lebanon. She made her debut as a director with her 2012 film, Layali Bala Noom. Her latest film is Miguel's War from 2021. That film received the Teddy Award for best LGBTW film at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival.
Faithful Word Baptist Church is a New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church in Tempe, Arizona, that was founded by Steven Anderson. The church describes itself as "an old-fashioned, independent, fundamental, King James Bible-only, soul-winning Baptist church." Members of the church meet in an office space that is located inside a strip mall. Anderson established the church in December 2005 and remains its pastor.
Censorship of LGBT issues is practised by some countries around the world. They may take a variety of forms, including anti-LGBT curriculum laws in some states of the United States, the Russian gay propaganda law, and the Hungarian anti-LGBT law, and laws in Muslim-majority states such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Malaysia prohibiting advocacy that offends Islamic morality.
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India: The Modi Question is a 2023 two-part documentary series aired by BBC Two about the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his relationship with the Muslim minority in the country. The first part covers Modi's early political career and his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, which occurred when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. It discusses documents found by the BBC, including a UK government report stating that the violence in Gujarat showed "all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing". The second part examines the activities of Modi's administration following his re-election in 2019. It covers a series of controversial policies, including the revocation of Kashmir's autonomy and a new citizenship law. It also depicts the violent response to protests against the new laws, and the aftermath of the 2020 Delhi riots.