New Muslim Cool

Puerto Rican American rapper Hamza Pérez ended his career as a drug dealer in New York City 12 years ago, and started down a new path as a young Muslim. Now he’s moved to Pittsburgh’s tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family, and take his message of faith to other young people through his uncompromising music as part of the hip-hop duo M-Team.

Raising his two kids as a single dad and longing for companionship, Hamza finds love on a Muslim networking website and seizes the chance for happiness in a second marriage. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and challenge himself. He starts reaching for a deeper understanding of his faith, discovering new connections with people from Christian and Jewish communities.

New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza’s ride through the streets, projects and jail cells of urban America, following his spiritual journey to some surprising places — where we can all see ourselves reflected in a world that never stops changing.

Trailer

Credits

Director/Producer: Jennifer Maytorena Taylor
Co-Producers: Hana Siddiqi, Kauther Umar
Cinematographers: Davíd Sarasti, Jon Shenk, Mark Knobil
Editors: Kenji Yamamoto
Composer: Chris Strollo, Herman Pearl
Total Running Time: 56 min.
Website: www.newmuslimcool.com

About The Filmmakers

JENNIFER MAYTORENA TAYLOR’S works explore the connection between the personal and the sociopolitical, and frequently feature Latino themes and Spanish-language content. Her documentary credits include Paulina, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast by the Sundance Channel; the Emmy Award-winning Home Front, a co-production with KQED-TV San Francisco; and, most recently, Special Circumstances, which aired nationally on PBS as part of its Voces series in 2009. Taylor is a recipient of the James D. Phelan Art Award for her body of work. She has produced short stories for the public television series California Connected and Keeping Kids Healthy and co-produced Sophia Constantinou’s history of Cyprus, Divided Loyalties, for the Sundance Channel. Taylor also worked as an associate and co-producer with Lourdes Portillo on Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena (POV 1999) and Señorita Extraviada (POV 2002), two award-winning documentaries. Taylor has worked throughout the United States, in Latin America and in Europe. She is a native Californian of Irish and Mexican heritage and was raised in Los Angeles and Vermont.

HANA SIDDIQI was born in London, England, and raised with a combination of traditional Islamic and modern Western ideals. As an undergraduate she designed her own interdisciplinary major and wrote her thesis paper entitled Muslim Culture, Identity Politics, and Hip Hop in America. In 2001-2, she worked as a researcher for Human Rights Watch and a freelance writer, covering art and culture as well as the WTC attack of 9/11. She received a Masters degree in Near Eastern Studies from New York University in 2003 after conducting a year long ethnographic study of the local Halvati-Jerrahi Sufis. Hana participated in the 2006 PBS Producers’ Academy at WGBH in Boston, and BAVC’s 2007 Producers Institute in 2007. She is currently working on a film about a Chinese-American Muslim convert who blogs about her struggle with faith after losing her husband. When she is not filming her documentary or music videos for local indie artists, Hana oversees instruction for children with learning challenges. She and her husband, a music producer and graphic designer live in California with their 3 year old daughter--a Beatles fan.

KAUTHAR UMAR is a New York - based documentary film producer, magazine editor and photographer. She is a co-producer of the award-winning feature documentary, NEW MUSLIM COOL, which launched the 2009 “P.O.V.” series on PBS. Umar is editor of the film’s forthcoming companion book, isl ● am ● erica, a photo anthology about identity, hip hop culture and Muslim youth in America. Umar served as the first Communications Director for the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, (IMAN) in Chicago, IL. She was a New Media Institute Fellow for the National Black Programming Consortium, (NBPC) in 2006 and she served as a journalist for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, where she reported on race and health disparities in the US. Umar’s photography, was exhibited in the Latin Collector Gallery RESURRECTIONS exhibit in New York City, featured in Tokion magazine, Current, Trace212.com, USAID Volunteers for Prosperity Annual Report 2004 and graced the cover of the book, American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class, and Gender within the Ummah, by Dr. Jamillah Karim for New York University Press. Her photography will also appear in the forthcoming book, World Religions: Western Traditions, Third Edition, edited by Willard G. Oxtoby and Amir Hussain for Oxford University Press. Umar has written for ESSENCE and ym magazines. She serves as a contributing editor for ISNA’s Islamic Horizons magazine where she developed and edited the historic 2005 issue, “Return To Roots”, about Islam in Black America. She is also an editor for the forthcoming anthology CROSSING LIMITS: Poetry From American Muslims and American Jews. Umar holds an MA from The American University, in Journalism and Public Affairs; International Track.

Awards

Freedom Award: Al Jazeera International Film Festival
Best Documentary: CineFestival/San Antonio, TX