Pakistani female filmmaker wins US student Emmy award

A Pakistani female filmmaker has won the coveted student Emmy award for producing a documentary Bismillah, in the name of Allah, guiding the new generation of young Muslim girl scouts to balance their American and Islamic identities without compromise.

Washington, Mar 26 : A Pakistani female filmmaker has won the coveted student Emmy award for producing a documentary "Bismillah, in the name of Allah", guiding the new generation of young Muslim girl scouts to balance their American and Islamic identities without compromise.

Sarah Zaman, the Pakistani national who is working here, depicts in her documentary the Indian Muslim woman's struggle to break into the American political system.

The documentary tells the story of 31-year-old Farheen Hakeem, an Indian-American Muslim girl scout troop leader who puts herself under scrutiny by running for public office.

The female character in the documentary wants to take on the assumptions made about Muslims. Farheen, who wears a hijab but shakes hands with men, is shown to be neither apologetic about her religious beliefs nor silent about the biases she sees in her community, reported the Daily Times.

She takes on a white democrat who has held the seat she wants for 16 years. She loses but along the way she initiates a dialogue around what it means to be American in a post 9/11 world,

Sarah made the film jointly with Jolene Pinder as part of her graduate thesis project on a shoestring budget, completing everything between the two of them, except music composition, sound correction and title graphics.

The film was made in conjunction with the University of Florida's Documentary Institute in 2007, while it won the Emmy in this year's listings.

ANI