Diversity DVD Library
Middle East
1. America at a Crossroads: The Muslim Americans (DVD – 60 min.s – Facilitator’s
Guide) This documentary explores the diversity of Muslims in America
today, focusing on communities’ experience after 9/11, and contrasting
life for Muslims here in the United States with Muslims in Britain and
Europe. The film looks at the ongoing conversation American Muslims are
having about life in the United States, including assimilation,
discrimination, Muslim youth, religion and politics.
2. America at a Crossroads:
Homegrown - Islam in Prison (DVD 60 min.s - discussion
guide) This PBS documentary, narrated by journalist Roger
MacNeil, explores the spread of radical Islam throughtout Europe, Will this
militant mindset become "homegrown" and threaten the U.S.?
HOMEGROWN, examines a crucial question - are U.S. prisons incubators for radical Islam
and terrorist ideology? The
issue was brought to the fore by the disruption of
an alleged terrorist plot, hatched in prison, in Los
Angeles in 2005.
3. Arab World, The (DVD & VHS – 25 min.s – Facilitator’s
Resource Guide)
The Arab world is the gateway to Africa, Asia, and
Europe. The earliest civilizations and three major world religions took
root there. Many influences – religion, the West, the diversity among the
Arab people have shaped the Arab world. Today many nations within the
region are trying to construct modern civilizations based on ancient
traditions. This video examines the reasons these traditions are important
to many Arabs and their impact on the region today. The video outlines the
history of the Arab world, including the founding of Islam, the Turkish
Empire and its eventual breakup, and the Arab’s political and armed
conflicts with Jews over Palestine.
4. Dissonance and Harmony:
Arabic Music Goes West
(DVD - 60 min.s) This film offers new imagery of
Arabs, not as patently anti-American, not as terroists, but as artists, universally
familiar in their struggle to share their talent and ideas. The
film follows an eclectic mix of Middle Eastern musicians from their own very
specific turf in the Middle East to the U.S. Once there, in
Los Angeles, they collaborate with other gifted musicians from the West,
finding common ground between two cultures in conflict.
5. I Exist: Voices from the
Lesbian and Gay Middle Eastern Community in the U.S. (VHS)
From the Unlearing Homophobia film series, this documentary is about the
lives of lesbian and gay Middle Easterners in the U.S. Award-winning
directors Peter Barbosa and Garrett Lenoir deliver a piercing tour de
force of the joys and pains of growing up gay and Middle Eastern.
Touching and groundbreaking interviews shed light on the experiences of
this community, once voiceless by the fear of shame and ostracism.
6. Muslims: An In-Dept Look at What it Means
to be a Muslim in the 21st Century (DVD – 120 min.s) The
events of September 11th left many Americans asking how such
atrocities could be perpetrated in the name of religion: specifically, Islam. Misconceptions and lack of
understanding dominate American’s perception of Islam, the world’s second
largest and fastest growing religion. Filmed in Egypt, Malaysia, Iran,
Turkey, Nigeria and the United States, Muslims explores the influence of
culture and politics on religion, and provides a deeper understanding of
the political forces at work among Muslims around the world.
The
film emphasizes Islam’s kinship with Christianity and Judaism, and looks at
diverse interpretations of Islam among the Muslim people.
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