POV Buys Tribeca Title ‘An Act of Worship,’ Billed as Counter-Narrative of Muslim Life in America (EXCLUSIVE)

PBS documentary strand ‘POV’ has acquired “An Act of Worship,” a counter-narrative of the last 30 years of Muslim life in America, out of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Directed by Pakistani-American helmer Nausheen Dadabhoy, the film centers on a diverse range of Muslim Americans who recount the past three decades of pivotal moments in U.S. history and policy from their own perspectives.

The film weaves together observational footage of activists who came of age after the 9/11 attacks, community-sourced home videos and recollections from individuals impacted by incidents of Islamophobia.

“An Act of Worship” premiered at Tribeca on June 9, and will make its national broadcast premiere on Oct. 17.

The film, which will sit within ‘POV’s’ 35th season, is produced by DuPont-Crichton Award-winner Heba Elorbany, Emmy Award winner Kristi Jacobson and Emmy-nominated Sofian Khan.

The deal was negotiated by Chris White and Erika Dilday for strands ‘American Documentary’ and ‘POV,’ and Dadabhoy, Elorbany, Jacobson and Khan for the filmmaking team.

‘American Documentary’ and ‘POV’ executive director Dilday said: “We’re very pleased to include ‘An Act of Worship’ in our Season 35 slate. This film dispels the idea of Muslim Americans as a monolith and contextualizes each specific story and voice in the mosaic that is America.”

Dadabhoy added: “Through intimate home video archival and a tapestry of community voices that narrate the film, we hope to regain authorship of our community’s story. It’s a way to replace images of violence so that our community can see itself through its own gaze. Our partnership with ‘POV’ is so meaningful, as it expands our film’s reach as we’d always hoped – reaching our community, through impact and engagement screenings, and via broadcast, the private, quotidian and communal moments that are rarely portrayed in stories about Muslim Americans will be televised into homes across the United States.”

In addition to “An Act of Worship” screenings during the festival, Tribeca and The Blackhouse Foundation, with co-hosts Firelight Media, Brown Girls Doc Mafia and Pillars, are holding a special panel event featuring “An Act of Worship.” Panelists will discuss the importance of storytellers from marginalized communities, providing perspectives through lived experience and disrupting harmful narratives that impact their communities.

The event is particularly timely given the Sundance premiere of “Jihad Rehab” in January, a film that received extensive backlash from the Muslim documentary community for its depiction of Muslims, which was deemed harmful and stereotyped. The film’s inclusion at Sundance ultimately led to the resignations of two Sundance Institute staff members and an apology from the festival.

“An Act of Worship” is a co-presentation of the Center for Asian American Media and ‘American Documentary’/’POV.’ The executive producers for the latter strands are Dilday and White.

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