Parvez Sharma
Encyclopedia
Indian people
Indian people or Indisians constitute the Asian nation and pan-ethnic group native to India, which forms the south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex history of India...
writer and filmmaker. He is best known for the multiple award winning and acclaimed film A Jihad for Love, on gay and lesbian
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s.
The influential UTNE Reader named him one of "50 Visionaries changing your world" in a list headed by the Dalai Lama in 2009.
"A Jihad for Love" is his first feature, which he directed and produced and is an international phenomenon with more than 8 million viewers in 49 nations in the first two years of its release. The film has been premiered at most major international festival venues including a world premier at Toronto in 2007 and a European premiere (as the opening film of Panorama Documentary) in Berlin, 2008. The winner of more than five international awards, the film has been theatrically released across the US and in Canada and is being broadcast around the world. The film has generated an international media blitz and coverage in practically all big media outlets. He has also been interviewed on BBC, CNN,CBC, Channel 4, Arte/ZDF, SBS, MSNBC, Fox and hundreds of television and radio stations worldwide.
Co-produced with five international broadcasters, France's ARTE, Germany's ZDF, the US Logo, Australian SBS, the British Channel 4 and the Sundance Documentary Fund and Katahdin Foundation, the film has also brought together a historic coalition of foundations and individual donors, making it one of the best funded documentaries of recent times. Mr. Sharma speaks nationally and internationally on college campuses and live theatrical events including conferences and seminars and is represented in the US by premier speakers agency, Keppler Speakers (www.kepplerspeakers.com)
Even though his film has faced theological condemnation in many countries, and has been banned in a number of countries, most notably in Singapore, Mr. Sharma remains (in his own words) "fatwa-free" as he has become a leading spokesperson on defending Islam and yet being able to speak for urgent reform, as a Muslim. He has conducted and led more than 200 live events across the world talking about Islam and in part its relation to homosexuality.
Personal life
Sharma was born and raised in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He has been educated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Parvez studied English Literature at Presidency College
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
of the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
. He received his master's degrees in Mass Communication (Film and Television) from Jamia Millia Islamia University, Broadcast Journalism from the University of Wales, Cardiff
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
, and Video from American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
's School of Communication. He currently lives in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Sharma identifies as gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and as Muslim.
Parvez Sharma has previously worked as television journalist in India and the UK, most notably for India's largest 24-hour news television network NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
. He also worked with the independent Democracy Now! (in New York) as a producer and as a print journalist in India and the US for many prominent publications. He was educated in India, the UK and the US and has also in the past been an adjunct professor at American University, developing and teaching that university's first curriculum on Bollywood and other Indian cinemas.
The US based OUT Magazine has named Mr. Sharma, one of the OUT 100 for 2008- "one of the 100 gay men and women who have helped shape our culture during the year". He blogs regularly at his extremely popular www.ajihadforlove.blogspot.com and is the winner of the prestigious GLAAD media award for Outstanding Documentary in 2009.
He is also a leading commentator on Islamic, racial and political issues with his writings most frequently appearing on The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
and The Daily Beast. He is engaged in a nationwide speaking tour, current and forthcoming writing (including an anthology on Islam and homosexuality, for which he will write the foreword) and in pre-production for a new film, partly set in his home country, India.
Work
A journalist, Sharma has worked with numerous media, including radio, print, and broadcast.He has worked with award-winning filmmakers and on programming for BBC World Television
BBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
(India), the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
(United States), and the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
(United States).
A Jihad for Love
Sharma is best known for directing the film A Jihad for Love, a documentaryDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
that seeks to refute the belief that LGBT Muslims do not exist. The film has also been known by the working title In the Name of Allah.
Sharma, director and cinematographer of the film, came up with the idea after listening to the stories of gay Muslims when he attended American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
. He decided to give a voice "to a community that really needed to be heard, and that until now hadn’t been. It was about going where the silence was strongest."
The film's website describes the film:
The film premiered in early 2007. Sandi Simcha DuBowski
Sandi Simcha DuBowski
Sandi Simcha DuBowski is an American director and producer. Best known for his work on homosexuality and religion, DuBowski directed the 2001 documentary Trembling Before G-d and is the producer of Parvez Sharma's documentary A Jihad for Love .-Personal life:DuBowski was born in Brooklyn in 1970...
, the filmmaker behind Trembling Before G-d
Trembling Before G-d
Trembling Before G-d is an 2001 American documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay...
, a documentary investigating the lives of homosexual Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
and Hasidic Jews
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
, is the producer of A Jihad for Love. The film is produced in association with Channel 4 Television (UK), ZDF (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Arte (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), MTV-Logo (US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) and SBS (Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
).
While the film reveals homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
and persecution in the Muslim world, Sharma has stated that the purpose of the film is not to vilify Islam. Instead, he said:
Media coverage
The documentary "A Jihad for Love" deals with the difficult themes of Islam and homosexuality in a post-September 11 world and also seeks to challenge many stereotypes around Islam, in a time when much of the religion and its one billion followers are misunderstood. The film has generated an international media blitz with the New York Times, the Washington Post, The LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle, the Guardian, The Times of London, the Independent, Der Spiegel, Stern, Newsweek, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Screen International, BBC, CNN, SBS, ZDF, CBC, NPR, al-Arabiya and hundreds of others writing about and profiling Mr. Sharma's work. He has variously been hailed as a "gifted filmmaker" (WSJ), "frankly brave" (NPR) and "provocative" (San Francisco Chronicle) and "an apostate" (South Africa's Muslim Judicial Council
Muslim Judicial Council
The Muslim Judicial Council , a non-profit umbrella body of Islamic clerics in South Africa, is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1945 by the Muslim Progressive Society...
).
Moez Masoud, a young Egyptian daa'y (caller to Islam) and media expert who has studied under traditional scholars (including the Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa) spoke about Parvez's debut film and said "The [documentary] is correct in its use of the term of jihad but defines it incorrectly. When people who have homoerotic desires struggle against their inclinations, they are struggling against an act that satisfies their physical body but is against their spiritual self... jihad is to struggle in the cause of good. It's a struggle for the sake of goodness, beauty, justice and truth. Homoerotic activity is not a manifestation of these universal principles; it's a violation of them and is in antithesis to the spiritual dimension. I love the title [of the movie] but when defined differently. We need to have jihad against extremism in society so we can learn to love the sinning person that is struggling, even though we hate their sin. And so, I too, call for a jihad for love." (source: Egypt Today, February 2008).
Some of the review highlights of the film include:
- Dignity and Despair woven tightly together! -The Guardian
- Critics' pick! Eye-opening, brave, brutally honest - New York Magazine
- Revealing and moving-a gifted filmmaker! - Wall Street Journal
- Lifts the veil of secrecy - National Public Radio
- Courageous...invaluable! - Boston Globe
- Fascinating, provocative! - San Francisco Chronicle
- Provocative, deeply felt and emotionally complex - Village Voice
- Heartfelt... Nail-biting! - The New York Times
- A powerful, important documentary - Film Journal International
- Illuminating! Joins two other very fine documentaries about faith and homosexuality: For the Bible Tells Me SoFor the Bible Tells Me SoFor the Bible Tells Me So is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Daniel G. Karslake about homosexuality and its perceived conflict with religion, as well as various interpretations of what the Bible says about same-sex sexuality...
and Trembling Before G-dTrembling Before G-dTrembling Before G-d is an 2001 American documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay...
- Denver Post
Work on Islam and homosexuality
The film is not Sharma's first work dealing with Islam and homosexuality. His piece "Emerging from the Shadows" for The Telegraph in India was the country's first major newspaper article to discuss the life of Indian lesbians.Sharma has written for The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
as an authority on issues concerning Islam, the Indian sub-continent,and Islamic sexualities.
He was involved in the organization of the first organized LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
effort in the state of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
and has spoken internationally on LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
issues, Human rights violations across the world and the crisis in 21st century Islam.
External links
- Director of Film on Muslim Homosexuals Frets over His Subjects' Safety
- A Jihad for Love
- Parvez bio
- Film of Muslim gays stirs up sentiments
- Queer and Present Danger (mp3), with Kathleen Mullen, Gretchen Hildebran, Malcolm Ingram and Parvez Sharma
- Parvez Sharma Interview on The Hour with George StroumboulopoulosGeorge StroumboulopoulosGeorge Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos is a Canadian television and radio personality, best known as the host of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and being a VJ for Canadian music television channel MuchMusic...