A Jihad For Love with Parvez Sharma
Friday, 4:00 pm, Regal Downtown #4
Director: Parvez Sharma
Cinematographers: Parvez Sharma, Berke Bas, and David W. Leitner
Running Time: 81 min
Directed by gay Muslim journalist and filmmaker Parvez Sharma, A Jihad for Love is the first feature-length documentary to examine the complicated relationship between Islam and homosexuality, as reflected in the day-to-day lives of gay and lesbian Muslims. Participants include a gay imam in South Africa, an Iranian man who seeks asylum in Canada, a lesbian couple living happily in Istanbul, an Egyptian man imprisoned and tortured for visiting a gay club in Cairo, and a number of gay and lesbian subjects who, for fear of official reprisal, choose to remain unidentified. The Islamic and secular regimes depicted in this film range from surprisingly gay-tolerant to implacably repressive, yet Sharma refrains from quick judgments or easy conclusions about these societies.
Filmed guerilla-style in twelve countries and nine languages over a period of five and a half years, A Jihad for Love boldly challenges Western viewers to reconsider commonly held prejudices and stereotypes about the Islamic world. We learn, for example, the complex connotations of the term “jihad,” rooted in personal religious struggle rather than holy warfare. Boston Globe correspondent Michael Hardy writes that Parvez Sharma “makes an invaluable contribution by recording the names, faces, and stories of gay men and women struggling to reconcile their religion with their sexuality.”
Cosponsored by the Serpentine Society.
