Jolene wins an Emmy!
Mary
Great News! Our very own staff member, Jolene Pinder, has won first place in the documentary category at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ College Television Awards (aka the Student Emmys).
She shares the award with her long-term friend and co-director Sarah Zaman for their film Bismillah, a feature length documentary about a Muslim woman who runs for political office in Minnesota. The film was also a finalist for the International Documentary Association’s David Wolper Award for Student Documentary and was selected to participate in Working Films’ Content + Intent Documentary Institute at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
(from left to right, directors Sarah Zaman and Jolene Pinder with the film’s composer, Yazan Fahmawi)
Film Synopsis:
Bismillah follows the beginnings of one Muslim woman’s groundbreaking struggle against America’s political structure. The film tells the story of Farheen Hakeem, a 31-year-old Muslim Girl Scout troop leader who puts herself under public scrutiny by taking part in the consummate patriotic act — running for office. Farheen’s challenge: to tackle head-on the assumptions our society makes about Muslims today.
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Farheen is the first Muslim woman to run for office in Minnesota. She is not your typical Muslim woman. She covers her head but shakes hands with men. She is neither apologetic for her religious beliefs nor silent about the biases she sees in her community. She is neither suppressed nor oppressed. She is a fighter.
Congratulations, Jolene and Sarah!
Comments
I second that! Congratulations, Jolene — we are all so proud!
Posted on March 28, 2008 4:46 PM by Jennifer Gallardo