Thursday, October 4, 2007

Contest opens for American Muslim films


"What's it like to wear a head scarf on Main St., USA? How about to play soccer in one? How would you feel if just going to the bathroom on a plane made people around you nervous? Or are you the person that feels nervous?

We're offering a $20,000 Grand Prize for the best new and creative short video exploring any aspect of life relating to the American-Muslim experience. Everyone in the U.S. is invited to compete, regardless of race or religion, so grab a camera and get filming. There's a story in every community and friends just waiting to be made."

Read on at http://www.onenationfilmcontest.org/.

Watch the promo video here. Read the AP story here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

what i want to know is how a muslim organization has $20,000 to give for a short film and has such a nice website when no one has heard of them before.

does it say where they get their funding from?

Anonymous said...

and how the heck did they get danny glover & marian pearl to be their judges?!

Shahtaj Siddiqui said...

Anonymous: For funding they obviously have sponsors (Link TV, Youtube, etc.). I doubt they are single-handedly funding the entire contest.

The parent organization is One Nation for All (onenationforall.org). They also probably outsourced their website production. I believe they spent resources on their presentation to increase credibility and media exposure.

As for how they got celebrity judges--my guess is as good as yours.

Unknown said...

Salaam,

So as to clear up a lot of misconception I already see developing.

One Nation is not a Muslim organization. Surprisingly, yes Non-Muslims do care about us! They do not all hate us like Pipes and Horowitz, but I am sure by now all Muslims are thinking that all Americans hate us because of the statistical reports and these Isalmophobes.

With that SAID- one nation is a for profit marketing firm solely doing work with NON-PROFITS.

They got a HUGE grant specifically to work with the AMERICAN MUSLIM community. That is why they are creating programs like this one.

Also because they work with Non-profits that means they have access to Hollywood, hence why they have Marian Pearl and Danny Glover. One Nation is actually a big player in the liberal left halls. They do some pretty amazing work that is bi-partisan as well, but based on the IDEA(ideas are important) that AMERICA IS A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY THAT IS WELCOMING AND accommodating TO ALL- just like the Constitution says we should be and not just lip service.

I hope to see many similar projects to help bring the American Muslim community in line with mainstream American society and engaged with it.