A British Muslim filmmaker who worked on “Star Wars” and the “Favourite” is set to release his first film aimed at countering misconceptions about Islam and giving Muslims a chance to tell their own stories.
Cinematographer Rizwan Wadan kicked off his project in 2019 to “tackle hatred, extremism, and terrorism”.
On Wednesday, he will release his film “Error in Terror” and resume a project in which he talks to people in pubs to dispel myths and promote interfaith dialogue.
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“The biggest stigma, and the biggest cause of division between the Muslim and non-Muslim world, is that our community is tarnished with the brush of terrorism,” Wadan told Arab News.
“In a fight, you’re supposed to take out the biggest guy first, so I thought before I tackle any other stigmas, I need to first set the record straight on terrorism,” he added.
“I need to make people understand that Islam and Muslims don’t stand for extremism and terrorism. In fact, no religion stands for extremism and terrorism.”
Clearing Misconceptions
Wadan’s film, produced through his Pixeleyed Pictures company, aims to “separate Islamic teachings and principles from being associated with terrorism.”
He chose to release the film on July 7 on the 13th anniversary of 7/7 London bombings clearly announcing that Islam does not support such attacks.
A similar initiative was taken earlier this year by the Department of Religious Studies at the Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) with a project that addresses Islamophobia through media and cinema.
The first film ‘Your Last Walk in the Mosque’ was screened on Jan 29, 2019, where it commemorated the January 2017 Islamophobic terrorist shootings in Quebec. It showed the after-effects of the dreadful incident on the Canadian Muslim victims and their families.
The second film ‘14 and Muslim’ was broadcasted on February, 2019.