New Muslim Cool

Short Synopsis

Chosen as the Opening Night film for the 2009 season of P.O.V., the feature documentary New Muslim Cool follows three years in the life of Puerto Rican American hip-hop star Hamza Pérez. Hamza quit dealing drugs for Islam twelve years ago. Now he’s moved to Pittsburgh’s tough North Side to start a Muslim community and rebuild his shattered family. When the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront life in post-9/11 America --- and himself.

Description/Treatment

 New Muslim Cool Launches on P.O.V. with Robust Engagement Campaign

Winner of the Freedom Award at its first public screenings in the April 2009 Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival in Doha, Qatar, New Muslim Cool is the first full-length documentary film to explore the formation of indigenous American Muslim culture and its deep connections to hip-hop and African American and Latino cultural and social justice movements.

The film launches at a critical moment of deep national and globalchange — poised to tap into the growing power of youth movements inmulti-faith organizing, social change, new modes of communication, andcreative expression. Fueled by the power of these interconnectedmovements, our team and partners plan a far-reaching engagement and newmedia campaign that will address on-going crises within the AmericanMuslim community; engender new conversations about faith, race, classand culture; and support public sector partners working in fields suchas social justice organizing, youth civic engagement projects, andanti-racial profiling training and policy work.

New Muslim Cool has won the coveted opening night slot of the 2009 season ofP.O.V., scheduled for late June. While this premiere slot comes quite early inour rollout, it offers us the irreplaceable opportunity for ahigh-profile campaign and new media launch. We will draw on ourpartnership with P.O.V. and Active Voice to capture broad press, promotion and newaudiences, and build momentum for an energetic, multi-faceted, “longtail” campaign.

Puerto Rican American rapper Hamza Pérez ended his life as a drug dealer 12 years ago, and started down a new path as a young Muslim. Now he’s moved to Pittsburgh’s tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family, and take his message of faith to other young people through his uncompromising music as part of the hip-hop duo M-Team.

Raising his two kids as a single dad and longing for companionship, Hamza finds love on a Muslim networking website and seizes the chance for happiness in a second marriage. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and challenge himself. He starts reaching for a deeper understanding of his faith, discovering new connections with people from Christian and Jewish communities.

New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza’s ride through the streets, projects and jail cells of urban America, following his spiritual journey to some surprising places — where we can all see ourselves reflected in a world that never stops changing.

Project Background and Need:  The Promise and Danger of Our Times

With its complex main character and intersecting themes, New Muslim Cool offers a window straight into our current socio-political climate of deep change. The long-emerging “minority majority” is finally claiming center stage in our cultural and political life, America increasingly looks like the rest of the globe, and the “clash of civilizations” paradigm about Muslims may be giving way – even if just a little bit – to something far more nuanced and realistic.

But against this backdrop of change, and the possibilities that offers American Muslims for deeper integration into the larger national life, the community is in crisis.

With approximately six million people, the American Muslim community is not only young, but is also the most diverse of any religious group in the country in terms of national and ethnic origin, education level, and socio-economic status. While there is no one ethnic majority within the American Muslim population, African Americans make up one-third of the community nationally, and the estimated number of 40,000 Latino Muslims steadily grows each year.

Compared to their counterparts in most European countries, American Muslims are well integrated in almost all aspects of society, with growing civic participation and leadership by young community members in a variety of professional fields and social change movements.

But according to a new report by Gallup, American Muslims across the board are struggling with deep emotional and psychological anxieties. No matter their socio-economic status or ethnic background, American Muslims are not thriving as they should. While it is speculative to point to potential causes such as a climate of fear and suspicion that has grown in the U.S. since 9/11, the symptoms of this problem are clear.

In the words of the report’s author Dalia Mogahed, “American Muslims are measurably more worried about their future, and more insecure about their place in society than any other religious group or the country at large. Even though the Muslim community is very young, there is no ‘youth bonus’ of optimism. Our nation may be changing, but being a Muslim in America still has huge social costs.”

This situation is notably the worst for African Americans, who are affected by the community’s psychological crisis and by deep socio-economic disparities and entrenched racism, not just within American society as a whole but also within the American Muslim community itself.

By launching New Muslim Cool in this context of conflicting trends and forces, of optimism marred by anxiety, our team and growing base of partners see tremendous new opportunities. We have the chance only to deconstruct negative perceptions of Muslims, but also to give young American Muslims – especially from African American and Latino backgrounds – a chance to claim ownership of diverse, nuanced, humanizing and authentic self-images.

Within the broader American and international public, we see chances to open new conversations about race, class and culture; to encourage new community and civic leadership on the part of diverse youth including Muslims; and to help build new coalitions that will shape our country and world for the next generation to come.