A Jihad for Love (2007)

Director:

Parvez Sharma

Writer:

Parvez Sharma

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A documentary on gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims across the Muslim and Western worlds.

Plot Keywords:

Muslim | Gay | Lesbian | Islam | Faith

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Muhsin Hendricks	...	Himself
A.K. Hoosen	...	Himself (as Mufti A.K. Hoosen)
Mazen	...	Himself
Abdellah Taia	...	Himself
Sana	...	Herself
Maryam	...	Herself
Maha	...	Herself
Amir	...	Himself
Arsham Parsi	...	Himself
Payam	...	Himself
Mojtaba	...	Himself
Ferda	...	Herself
Kiymet	...	Herself
Qasim	...	Himself
Syed Kalbe Jawad	...	Himself
Ahsan	...	Himself

Directed by
Parvez Sharma

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Parvez Sharma

Produced by
Sandi Simcha Dubowski	....	producer (as Sandi DuBowski)
Andrew Herwitz	....	executive producer
Michael Huffington	....	executive producer
Dave Mace	....	executive producer
Ioannis Mookas	....	associate producer
Eileen Opatut	....	executive producer
Linda Saetre	....	executive producer
Amisha Upadhyaya	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Sussan Deyhim
Richard Horowitz

Cinematography by
Berke Bas
David W. Leitner
Parvez Sharma

Film Editing by
Juliet Weber

Production Management
Brice Bishop-Pullan	....	post-production supervisor
Donald Klocek	....	post-production supervisor

Art Department
Peter Friedman	....	creative consultant

Sound Department
Dan Fulton	....	assistant sound editor
Bruce Kitzmeyer	....	dialogue editor
Ira Spiegel	....	supervising sound editor
John Werner	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Adnan Malik	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Berke Bas	....	additional editor
Brice Bishop-Pullan	....	assistant editor
David Gauff	....	online editor
Ahmed Hussein	....	assistant editor
Donald Klocek	....	additional editor
Joaquin Perez	....	assistant editor
Stephen Vittoria	....	editor: Theatrical Trailer

Music Department
Ramsay Adams	....	music supervisor
Abe Velez	....	music supervisor

Thanks
Josh Hetzler	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Channel Four Films
• Halal Films
• Katahdin Foundation, The
• Logo
• Realise
• SBS Australia
• ZDF/Arte

Distributors

• First Run Features (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• First Run Features (2008) (USA) (all media)
• Mongrel Media (2008) (Canada) (all media)

Other Companies

• Cinereach  funding
• Film Sales Company, The  funding
• Murphy PR  publicity
• Ovasen Post Production  post-production services and facilities
• Ovasen  post-production services and facilities

Also Known As:

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA | UK | France | Germany | Australia

Language:

Arabic | Turkish | English | Persian | Urdu | Punjabi | Hindi | French

Color:

Color

Certification:

Canada:14A | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Unrated | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Istanbul, Turkey

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

The film used covered faces and silhouettes in order to protect the safety of sources whose lives would have been in danger had their identities been revealed.

Quotes:

Muhsin Hendricks:I guess what was never taught to us, when I was growing up, is that Allah is also the Allah of love. We always had to Taqwa Allah. You have to fear God. We never were taught about the love of God.

Wrong

The movie might have hit a mark with the gay community, but is that really what it was aiming at? And should it be aiming at that? I do think that it missed a great opportunity, to "open the eyes" of others (i.e. straight people). Even if you're gay and/or try to like the movie because of it's idea(ls), you can't close your eyes to it's faults ... at least you shouldn't.

While it starts off kind of good (with the person that might easily be the most likable of the bunch), it departs and leaves you bedazzled (in all the wrong ways). While it tries more to shock than to make us sympathize with it's people, it get's more incoherent every minute that it runs. The reason is, that we get rushed through different "gay people/couples", while not learning much from them as people. Yes it is difficult to be gay, even more so in a community that despises homosexuals. But talking about the Koran at five different parts of the movie, while not revealing anything new, you do really wonder, why that time wasn't used for something else. Yes it is a documentary with a meaning, but does that justify giving it a great summary and or vote it higher than it really deserves?

It would've been easy to bash this movie, because it is about a minority, but while I'm not part of the minority, I do not condemn anyone for their likings. I do have the right to criticize the movie/documentary for it's execution though. There is more that could've been done with a (hot) topic like this