New York Muslim Film Festival Debuts at SVA Theatre to Challenge Western Media Stereotypes

A brand-new cultural milestone is arriving in Manhattan this October, offering a direct response to the often-flattened and heavily stereotyped depictions of Muslims frequently trafficked by Western media institutions. The inaugural New York Muslim Film Festival (NYMFF), billed as the city’s very first film event dedicated specifically to Muslim filmmakers, aims to carve out a permanent, prominent space for these artists to tell their own authentic stories on their own terms.

The festival is officially launching on October 11 at the prestigious SVA Theatre in Manhattan, marking a significant moment for independent cinema in New York City. Rather than positioning these cinematic works as mere reactions to prevailing cultural prejudices, festival organizers and leaders are striving for a much higher standard of representation.

Hassan Babar, the artistic director of the festival and a Toronto-based actor and producer, emphasized this philosophy ahead of the event’s grand opening. According to Babar, stories crafted by Muslim filmmakers should not be relegated to the secondary role of serving merely as counter-narratives to external misconceptions. Instead, Babar articulated a bolder vision for the cinematic landscape, stating that these diverse and authentic narratives should serve as the foundational paradigm for storytelling moving forward.

The ambitious one-day event features a carefully curated program consisting of 12 short films originating from seven different countries. The lineup showcases a diverse array of cinematic styles and formats, seamlessly blending documentaries, dramas, comedies, animation, and experimental pieces. Notably, female filmmakers occupy a majority of the director seats across the entire program, underscoring a strong commitment to elevating women’s voices within the global Muslim creative community.

Nawal Mubin, a New York-based director and producer who co-founded the festival alongside filmmaker and post-production specialist Giuseppe de Matteis, highlighted the vital importance of the event’s physical and cultural presence in America’s largest media market. Both Mubin and de Matteis work professionally at Lost in Space, a prominent New York-based production and post-production house.

Reflecting on the motivations behind the festival’s creation, Mubin noted that the event exists fundamentally because these rich and varied stories rightfully deserve a prominent stage right in the heart of New York City, rather than being pushed to the cultural margins of someone else’s narrow perspective.

The structure of the festival day is designed to foster both professional networking and cinematic appreciation. The event will officially open with an exclusive reception welcoming participating filmmakers and prominent industry guests. Following the opening reception, the screening schedule is divided into two distinct blocks of six films each, with each block running for approximately one hour. These screenings will lead directly into the final awards ceremony and the highly anticipated announcement of the festival’s official jury winners.

To evaluate the exceptionally talented pool of shortlisted films, the festival has assembled an esteemed, six-member jury featuring prominent figures from across the film and television industries. Among them is Emmy Award winner Aasif Mandvi, widely recognized as a longtime correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and for his starring role in the acclaimed Paramount+ series “Evil.”

Joining Mandvi on the jury panel is Arab-American writer and director Darine Hotait, the founder of Cinephilia Productions, whose celebrated short films have previously aired on major networks and platforms including HBO, AMC, SundanceTV, and the BBC. The panel also includes Munir Atalla, the head of production and acquisitions at Watermelon Pictures who previously served as a creative executive at Netflix. Rounding out the group of industry experts is producer Abubakar Khan, whose impressive resume boasts “The Glassworker,” which served as Pakistan’s official entry for the 2024 Academy Awards, as well as the SXSW 2023 audience award-winning feature “Mustache.”

The remaining jury seats are filled by Lebanese-American filmmaker Sarah Mokh and Egyptian-American actor Abubakr Ali. Mokh is a Sundance Feature Film Fellow who recently wrapped production on her debut feature film, “The Alchemy of Being Okay,” which is being produced by fellow juror Abubakar Khan. Ali is an accomplished actor with several high-profile projects on the horizon, including roles in Bassam Tariq’s upcoming film “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” starring opposite Mahershala Ali, and Sean Durkin’s A24 feature “Deep Cuts.” Ali has also recently appeared on screen in Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite.”

In addition to the competitive screenings and industry presence, the festival has secured backing from several key organizations and streaming platforms. Streamer Watermelon+ is sponsoring the festival’s dedicated Watermelon+ Discovery Award. The winner of this prestigious award, whether they are an individual filmmaker or a rights holder, will be granted an exclusive license allowing the platform to stream the winning film for a limited period. Furthermore, the Islamic Scholarship Fund, the New York-based production and post house Lost in Space, and Aneesa Talks—an initiative founded by filmmaker Aneesa Khan to support South Asian and Muslim creatives—have all signed on as official partners of the inaugural event.

The overarching programming of the festival ranges widely in both tone and subject matter, reflecting the vast diversity of experiences within the global Muslim community. Among the documentaries featured is Justin Mashouf’s compelling project “$17.74,” which follows a former gang member who has remained behind bars since the 1980s. The film captures how a simple, poignant gesture of solidarity for Gaza originating from deep inside a prison wall unexpectedly sparked a massive, viral wave of global solidarity.

In the realm of dramedy, Karim Emara’s Qatar-U.S. collaboration “Baba Is Melting” portrays a tense dynamic between a son and his father. The narrative centers on a phone call made by a son to his father, who is waiting in a car outside prior to Friday prayers in Doha, to directly challenge him regarding a hidden second marriage.

Family dynamics and cultural traditions also feature prominently in Zaid Ahmed Hassan’s short film “Ghusl,” which focuses on a grieving son whose dying father asks him to learn the traditional Islamic burial rites. Meanwhile, Basma Khalifa’s experimental piece from the United Kingdom, titled “Henna,” poetically explores the life cycle of the henna plant alongside the stories and experiences of women hailing from 16 different African and SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) countries.

Animation is represented by Sima Naseem’s Canada-Pakistan co-production “My Friend in the Jingle Truck,” which cleverly combines stop-motion and 2D animation techniques to tell the magical story of a young girl in Karachi who crosses paths with an extraordinary, magical bird.

Other entries delve into the realities of displacement and generational friction. In Alex Aljouni’s film “Bukra,” a young Syrian refugee wins a soccer ball as a sweepstakes prize and rushes frantically to collect it in time for one final match with her best friend before he departs for good. Intergenerational conflict and personal autonomy are explored in Negine Jasmine Sekandari and Ayda Rojhantalab’s comedy “Haram Salami,” which follows three generations of Afghan women as a single daring move reopens old rifts, forcing them to weigh individual desires against traditional customs and familial expectations.

Magical realism and personal growth are explored in Maram Taibah’s Saudi fantasy “Malika,” which examines a young girl’s profound bond with her grandmother through a vibrant, imaginative world born from a child’s mind, navigating the delicate tension between untamed wildness and the obedience typically expected of young girls. In Bilal Shams Khan’s Pakistani drama “Sabr O Shukar,” a 10-year-old boy named Akram learns profound lessons about patience and gratitude while desperately chasing his childhood dream of owning a bicycle.

The line-up also embraces lighthearted comedy and psychological character studies. Imran J. Khan’s “The Boy With Dinosaur Head” explores the encounter between a troubled boy who genuinely believes he is a dinosaur and a stubborn teacher determined to force him back into conventional reality, resulting in a brief interaction that leaves a lasting impact on both individuals. In the Canadian comedy “Unqualified,” co-directed by Ilhan Abdullahi and Sherry Rashidan, a character named Warsan finds herself as the sole Muslim employee at her workplace. She is unexpectedly handed the daunting task of spiritually cleansing a lunchroom rumored to be haunted, forcing her to clear out the lingering spirits armed primarily with her faith and a series of hilarious misunderstandings before her job is put on the line.

French drama is represented by Lyna Tadount and Sofian Chouaib’s “Ya Hanouni,” which centers on two loving parents playfully competing over whose name will be their baby’s very first spoken word, until their lighthearted domestic contest is abruptly cut short by an unforeseen event that completely upends their lives.

Behind the scenes, the festival’s organizational structure brings together a dedicated team of creative professionals committed to championing independent cinema. Hassan Babar serves as artistic director, while co-heading programming alongside Aneesa Khan, who also oversees communications for the event. Nawal Mubin and Giuseppe de Matteis round out the leadership team as co-founders, bringing their extensive backgrounds in directing, producing, and post-production to ensure the festival’s debut sets a high standard for future editions.