Category: self-authored

a juror for the south asian film festival of montreal

this fall, i was honored to be one of the jurors for the south asian film festival of montreal, and i got to see some powerful documentaries. one of them is called ‘the ice cream sellers’ by bangladeshi filmmaker sohel rahman. it follows two children in a rohingya refugee camp in bangladesh, and tells the stories of many of its uprooted residents. the opening shots create this sharp contrast between the stunning beauty of the fields and hills in bangladesh and the destitution of people who have witnessed hideous violence. the film’s cinematography is beautiful. its quiet, long shots allow us to take in the immensity of the situation. it’s not manipulative, with no music or fancy editing. rather it’s a sobering ethnographic portrait of royingya refugees. the film is raw, truthful, moving.

the little boy, ayas, at the center of the film (the ice cream seller), seems much older than his years. there is a sadness and anger in him. he and asia, his sister, are deeply traumatized by what they have experienced and by the absence of their father. genocide does not just affect those who are exterminated, it produces ongoing generational trauma.

the festival ends on november 28th so there are still a few days left to watch a large number of new films, many of them for free. google south asian film festival of montreal.

the long goodbye

‘the long goodbye’ with riz ahmed is a short film but so incredibly hard to watch. as he says: “it feels clear to me that this does very much feel grounded in reality, the reality of people’s fears, the reality of where we’re at…” the sequence of events shown in the film is already a reality in palestine, kashmir, india, china, burma and many other parts of the world. this is where we’re at.

google the long goodbye short film riz ahmed. it’s free to watch online including on youtube and vimeo.

To be in a time of war

“The US military is never anywhere to protect human life, it is there to protect its interests. It couches its militarism in the language of the protection of human life while worsening/creating conditions that destroy human life. That’s the history of American interventionism.” (Sana Saeed)

i didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to say this on veterans day, while being bombarded with patriotism and pictures of people in military fatigues, but there’s nothing noble about war (especially its present incarnation). the power differentials between people and countries are so obscene that war is nothing more than theft, slaughter and genocide. we talk about white privilege and structural hierarchies within american society, but seem not to recognize those same inequalities when they apply to people outside the US. being american is also a kind of supremacy, a violent imperial blindness to the pain and suffering of others. i saw a disturbing discussion on fb where activists were trying to distance the police from the military, saying it’s ok to defund the police but without the military the US would be a sitting target. wow. don’t they realize white people feel the same way about the need for policing? that without it they would be open to the violence and criminality of people of color? they believe that white safety can only be guaranteed thru the oppression and harsh control of black and brown people. we can’t fight for our own liberation while justifying the killing and exploitation of other human beings. it doesn’t work that way.

here is a tribute to the great lebanese american poet, essayist, and visual artist etel adnan, who just passed away: “To Be in a Time of War”: An Homage to Etel Adnan (1925-2021)

from “to be in a time of war” by fady joudah:

To bomb, eliminate
a country, blow up a civilization, destroy the living.
To exit from one idea to enter another.
To admire the light,
bless the spring.
To consider the present time as sheer lead.
To create terror, that’s war.
To wallow in cruelty, conquest. To burn. To kill. To torture.
To humiliate: that’s war…

sadequain and i – part two

as soon as we saw him, we knew who he was. there were three of us walking together, three young teenagers braving the world of art, barely beginning to gain a footing in simple art techniques. we tried to be discreet but we were gawking.

he saw us and (shockingly) invited us to open the gate and join him in his garden. he caught sight of our sketchbooks and asked us if we were art students. we talked to him for a while, telling him about our art classes, and then one of the girls asked for his autograph. he offered to draw something for each of us. we couldn’t believe it! this was 4 years before he passed away (at 57) so he was an international star, an art giant, a legend.

we opened our sketchbooks and offered him a pen. with a few elegant lines he drew beautiful faces and signed his name. my turn came last. fearless as i was in those days, i asked for more. i said, pls write my name too, so it’s for me specifically, not just a random work of art. he complied graciously and asked me for the spelling of my name.

here u see it, in this sketch from 1983. my given name is mahrukh, which is farsi for face as beautiful as the moon (for people who live in hot countries, the moon means coolness, love and beauty in a way that’s hard to understand here).

in conclusion, sadequain’s lofty socialist values and magnanimity were real. i experienced his humility and generosity firsthand and i will always treasure the gift of this brief intersection of our lives.

#sadequain #sadequainart #islamabad #art #artclasses #sketching #oilpainting #pakistan #calligraphy #islamicart #murals #storytelling #storytime

sadequain and i – part one

in the great storytelling tradition of the wonderful shahram khosravi, here is a story about sadequain and i.

i think that it would be appropriate to say that sadequain (1930-1987) is to pakistan what diego rivera is to mexico. maybe even more. an iconic calligrapher and muralist, he was part of an islamic arts movement which emerged in north africa and parts of asia in the 1950s.

in this movement, “artists rejected western art concepts, and instead searched for a new visual language that reflected their own culture and heritage.” for calligraphy, it became a kind of renaissance.

not interested in “decorating the drawing rooms of the rich and powerful,” sadequain gave away innumerable paintings to friends and admirers, and painted mammoth allegorical murals in public spaces with titles like ‘the saga of labor,’ a tribute to the working class people of pakistan. a prolific painter and poet, sadequain also wrote “hundreds of rubaiyat in the style of omar khayyam.”

it just so happened that sadequain lived in islamabad, a few houses down the street from my high school.

once over summer break, i decided to take art classes close to my school. they were organized by the pakistan national council of the arts and proved to be spectacular. some of pakistan’s foremost artists came to teach us, we learned to sketch and paint with oils, we had live models who helped us capture the human body on paper and canvas, and we went on day trips to draw en plein air.

after one such trip, we were walking back to the studio when we spotted sadequain. he was sitting in his garden, wearing a crisp white kurta, enjoying a restful summer eve, a cup of tea in hand.

second part of story coming soon. [sadequain’s portrait by TJ bhatti + his calligraphy at lahore museum]

#sadequain #sadequainart #islamabad #art #artclasses #sketching #oilpainting #pakistan #calligraphy #islamicart #murals #storytelling #storytime

malala’s marriage

so i believe in marriage. when it works, it can be a beautiful thing. i wish malala all the best on her nikah. may she and asser malik truly form a vibrant and powerful partnership. the reason i’m posting this is because of the mean comments i’ve seen on twitter. people keep posting a snippet from an interview in which she questioned the necessity for marriage (when at university) and then went on to say how people grow and change all the time. so, yeah, exactly. also, she’s not too young. 24 is an ok age to make such a decision. finally, all the talk about an unwanted arranged marriage is preposterous. this is the girl who went to school even when some armed men decreed otherwise and got shot in the head for being too independent. u really think she can be railroaded into a marriage she doesn’t want? seriously? makes me think how at the end of the day, in spite of her fame and personal history, in spite of the relationship she has with her parents which is well documented, in spite of her obvious intelligence and education, when it comes down to it, she’s just a muslim girl. so the same old, tired, islamophobic tropes must be applied to her reflexively. marriage is always a gamble, whether u marry someone at 24 or 30 or live with them for years before tying the knot. we all do our best and i wish malala success and happiness in the decision she’s taken.

#malalayousafzai #malala #marriage #marriagecanbebeautiful #muslimwomenarepowerful #fuckislamophobia

You can watch my films online

Friends, I am delighted to share that in addition to ‘The Muslims I Know’ and ‘Pakistan One on One,’ you can also watch my third film online.

‘A Thin Wall’ (2015) is shot on both sides of the border, in India and Pakistan. Produced by myself and my friend, filmmaker Surbhi Dewan, it tells personal stories of the 1947 Partition. Surbhi and I interviewed our families and friends in order to capture their stories of loss and rupture, and their longing for home in what became another country.

Writer Namrata Joshi says about A Thin Wall: ‘Without intending to do so, the film makes one go beyond ruminating on the “us” and “them” narrative of 1947, when one country was torn apart to create two independent nations, forcing us to look at the fissures that continue to form and deepen more than 70 years later. The talk of “organised violence” and “systematic ethnic cleansing” back then reverberates in the present. It makes you wonder about the ghosts of the past mutating into newer entities of hatred, still using people as pawns. The film may not be about it, yet it makes the viewer confront this pervasive reality indirectly.’

The film is a collage of poetry, prose and images about the Partition by artists and writers such as John Siddique, Uzma Aslam Khan, Ajay Bhardwaj, and Asim Rafiqui.

With gorgeous animation by Gayane Bagdasarian and music by acclaimed singer songwriters Zeshan Bagewadi, Hassan Zaman and Nivedhan Singh.

Pls watch and support activist filmmaking! If you live in the US, Canada or UK, watch A Thin Wall on Amazon. Everywhere else, watch on Vimeo.

Robin Wilt wins

congrats Robin Reynolds Wilt! ur well-deserved victory gives me hope. thank u for standing up for ALL oppressed people, ALL over the world, and for addressing racism not just here at home (in brighton or the US more broadly) but also in other settler colonies such as israel (it’s important to be precise even if vague, feel-good statements about justice and solidarity get more likes).

the prolonged, relentless, and well-organized backlash robin received for saying “free palestine” only goes to show how deeply our struggles are intertwined. MLK’s famous words that “no one is free until we are all free” are not just a handy aphorism, they contain a practical guide for how to think and fight.

that a woman of color had the audacity and fortitude to live by those words, and face the overwhelming backlash that was bound to come, does not surprise me — that’s how history has always been made.

#blackwomenrock #freepalestine #endtheoccupation #endsettlercolonialism #zionismisracism #notoracism #blacklivesmatter #endamericanimperialism #endwhitesupremacy

my review: the french dispatch

saw ‘the french dispatch’ last night and was mostly indifferent to wes anderson’s cinematic habits: the ‘mixture of vintage tchotchkes, droll repartee, and houndstooth,’ the predictable camera work, the silences and knowing looks, the offering of large swathes of data and eccentricities floating freely throughout the film. couldn’t help thinking how white men have the power, privilege, and dollars to make their private obsessions profitably public.

i couldn’t sink my teeth into the film, an apparent homage to the new yorker, until the last story. until jeffrey wright.

in spite of the outlandish story he’s telling, he exudes such charisma, warmth and intelligence that for the first time, i felt invested and engaged. my husband leaned over and whispered how wright was channeling james baldwin (the closing credits confirmed that inspiration). it made sense. something elegant and recognizable. the heart of the film. hope he gets the accolades he deserves and many more movie roles.

#thefrenchdispatch #wesanderson #jeffreywright #shortmoviereview #jamesbaldwin

book launch: documentary cinema in israel-palestine by shirly bahar

an unforgettable evening in brooklyn last night, celebrating the launch of “documentary cinema in israel-palestine – performance, the body, the home” by my brilliant friend shirly bahar. delicious palestinian food by ayat, music by laura elkeslassy, ira khonen temple, zafer tawil and dan kurfist, poetry by mariam bazeed, qais kamran, and halah abdelhadi, and a wonderful reading from the book by shirly.

“bahar offers a nuanced reading of the cinematic documentary corpus emerging from israel-palestine, as well palestinians’ and mizrahim’s different and unequal yet interrelated forms of oppression and racialization under israeli rule. while pain sets them apart, the documentary representations of pain of palestinians and mizrahim invite us to consider reconnection by focusing on the very relational nature of pain.”
outdoors, in a cozy backyard in williamsburg, filled with friends and powerful energy – one day soon palestine will be free.

#booklaunch #brooklyn #williamsburgbrooklyn #shirlybahar #palestine #palestineisrael #cinema #mizrahim #palestinecinema #mizrahifilm #solidarity #longingforhome #lossandpain #zionismisracism #palestinewillbefree


gratitude

grateful for these fleeting moments of beauty. the way autumn light, burnished to a warm gold, hits the kitchen window and these fresh apples from a farm nearby. the way this table runner, with its wonderful colors and texture, came out of a cardboard box even though i have no memory of its provenance. feeling blessed this morning.

#autumnismyfavorite #galaapples #pantaleonsfarm #setauket #newyork #gratitudeforlittlethings #beautyiseverywhere

Meesha Shafi – Hot Mango Chutney Sauce (Feat. Swineryy)

this song by one of pakistan’s best-loved artists is such addictive fun. first of all, any friend of mangoes is a friend of mine. it’s the king of fruits and the utmost south asian sensorial experience (hot mango chutney makes me think of brooklyn’s B K jani and their ‘mango jani’ – a spicy, sparkling mango drink concoction). secondly, i love that the song is mostly in punjabi, a beautiful language with a rich literary and musical tradition that’s invisibilized by urdu (the state’s national language, the language of culture and erudition, and all that). let’s not even talk about the long shadow cast over punjabi (and other regional languages) by english and its elitist colonial legacy. so, yes to punjabi and its colorful, spirited, humorous culture. finally, the singer/songwriter/director/producer meesha shafi is part of the #metoo movement in pakistan. she accused ali zafar, a popular actor/musician, of sexual harassment and ended up being sued by him for criminal defamation. so there’s a lot she’s saying here without really saying it and more power to her for hitting back. enjoy:)

#meeshashafi #metoo #iamwithher #mangoes #southasia #pakistan #punjab #punjabi #punjabisongs #punjabihumour #punjabiculture

anne carson’s autobiography of red

reading anne carson’s ‘autobiography of red.’ no one uses language the way she does. suffused with imagery, unfettered, astonishing. here are a few examples from the beginning of the book:

burrowed himself down in the red dawn jelly of geryon’s dream
the sound of the horses like roses being burnt alive
not a bee moved up geryon’s spine
steps off a scraped sky and into the blind atlantic morning
the red world and corresponding red breezes went on, geryon did not

“Autobiography of Red is a verse novel by Anne Carson, based loosely on the myth of Geryon and the Tenth Labor of Herakles, especially on surviving fragments of the lyric poet Stesichorus’ poem Geryoneis.”

#annecarson #autobiographyofred #language #unfettered #imagery #book

navigating the pandemic

so my story about moving from rochester to long island during the pandemic was published in a book! u can read it if u scroll down – link in comments. it’s called: musings on moving (in corona times)

book #navigatingthepandemic #collectionofstories #movingduringthepandemic #rochester #longisland #coronatimes #covid19 #pandemic #mystory #published #maraahmed

Steven Donziger sentenced to prison

Steven Donziger, an American environmental attorney, went after Chevron. His focus was the Lago Agrio oil field case or the “Amazon Chernobyl.”

‘He represented over 30,000 farmers and indigenous Ecuadorians in a case against Chevron related to environmental damage and health effects caused by oil drilling. The Ecuadorian courts awarded the plaintiffs $9.5 billion in damages, which led Chevron to withdraw its assets from Ecuador and launch legal action against Donziger in the US.

In 2011, Chevron filed a RICO suit against Donziger in New York City. The case was heard by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who determined that the ruling of the Ecuadorian courts could not be enforced in the US because it was procured by fraud, bribery, and racketeering activities. As a result of this case, Donziger was disbarred from practicing law in New York in 2018.

After having been under house arrest since August 2019 awaiting trial on charges of criminal contempt of court, which arose during his appeal against Kaplan’s RICO decision, in July 2021 US district judge Loretta Preska found him guilty; he is now facing the possibility of a 6-month jail sentence. While under house arrest, in 2020 twenty-nine Nobel laureates described the actions taken by Chevron against Donziger as “judicial harassment” and human rights campaigners have described Chevron’s actions as an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation. In April 2021, six members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus demanded that the Department of Justice review Donziger’s case. In September 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ruled that the pre-trial detention imposed on Donziger was illegal and called for his release.’

Steven was sentenced to prison today on contempt charges. It is unprecedented.

Oil companies own us. The level of corruption in our judicial and political systems is deeply depressing. We will drive our gas guzzling American trucks and Humvees into extinction, and take the rest of the world with us.