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Recent statistics published by the Ministry of Defence indicate that there are 650 Muslims serving in the UK armed services and of these, 550 are in the British Army, constituting 0.5% of the total. Highlighting an interesting and controversial subject that hasn’t been covered widely in the media. GHANIMAH is now BIFA qualifying and BAFTA qualifying film and we have been so grateful for the support and the journey so far! Our key motivation for this project was to shine a light on Islam, which tends to only be represented in terms of violence and hate. The Quran is much denser and more complicated than what is interpreted and presented in the modern media, and in some cases even when presented with sympathy, it is inherently vilified. In the world we live in today, it goes unsaid how relevant the topic is and the resonance it will have with an audience. Via our characters we are exploring why certain ideologies around Islam exist and the angst that surrounds these given interpretations. We see so few quality projects about the non-white British experience, it feels like every story about Muslims centres on a young person being radicalised, these are perpetual two-dimensional stereotypes for ethnic minorities. Hence, giving us a strong motivation to put together this project. We have also seen many South Asian or Muslim actors offered terrorist roles, they are all frustrated that they do not get interesting characters, and that their faith tends to only be represented in terms of violence and hate. We are looking to expand the scope of what it means to be an immigrant in the UK through this narrative. To the extent, where we had to independently finance the project on a very low budget and shoot in one day in order to get the film made. We feel it roots down to the concept of hereditary dread; the atavistic sins of the father passing onto the son whether it is in the Godfather, East of Eden, All my Sons or House of Strangers. As well as the traditional idea of the burden of the brother, best exemplified in films such as: On the Waterfront, Rocco and his brothers, Mean Streets and Mickey & Nicky. However, we are transposing these mid twentieth century examples onto not just the British Muslim experience and what it means to be a Muslim in the western world, but the immigrant disposition in a post-Brexit Britain. An ideological battle between the three men versed in their shared holy doctrine yet hold differing interpretations. It is as much influenced from the works of Ibsen to Mamet, Kazan to Coppola, as it is by the Quran, and the politics of today. A film that feels raw and rooted in reality, yet stylish in composition only accompanied by it's rhythmic back and forth repartee, playing out like a piece of musical theatre where the lyrics are substituted with cutting and socially relevant dialogue, something I believe that has been missing from dramatic cinema in decades; an important subject enhanced by it's stylistic flourishes. omsairam
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