40 qm Deutschland (1986)

The events of the hajj have long remained veiled from non-Muslims, who are forbidden even to enter the holy city of Mecca. A team of Muslim filmmakers gained access to Islam's holiest place at the peak of the pilgrimage to document the holy event for National Geographic Television.

Ayesha is a widow with a secret past, living with her beloved son Saleem in a small town in Pakistan close to the Indian border. When the fires of Islamic nationalism invade their tranquil lives, Saleem and a few of the town's other young men are soon gripped by a religious fervour, and they attempt to bring radical Islamic law to their friends and neighbours. After a group of Sikh pilgrims arrive in town, tensions reach boiling point as Ayesha's haunted past comes rushing back.

WHAM! BAM! ISLAM! tells the story of Naif Al-Mutawa and his venture to create the first team of superheroes from the Muslim world called THE 99. Following the tumultuous journey of THE 99 from concept to reality, from acclaim to censure by Islam's cultural gatekeepers, from the edge of bankruptcy to plans for theme parks and an animation series, Al-Mutawa dodges cultural minefields and tries to tackle the harsh realities of the global marketplace while doggedly pursuing his vision to bring new heroes to Muslim children while re-introducing Islam to the West

Ali Abd-El-Zaher is a member of an Islamic radical group which has been launching attacks against the government and the society under the orders of the spiritual leader Brother Saif. Ali manages to assasinate an officer, but as he escapes from the authorities he gets hit by a car driven by Sewsan, the daughter of a respected Muslim family living in the Maadi district. Sewsan's father who is a surgeon and his family take care of the injured terrorist who then tries to conceal the truth about his personality, such as his dislike of music, unveiled women and Western life styles.

How to combine modernity and fundamentalist Islam. "Saudi Solutions" is a unique and revealing documentary about the lifestyles and attitudes of ambitious career womenin conservative Saudi Arabia - the only country in the Arabworld where women are obliged to cover themselves inabayas and aren't allowed to drive cars. Because of the strong influence of fundamentalist Islam on society, filmingis severely restricted in Saudi Arabia. With unique access to the Kingdom, Backlight had the opportunity to film the daily routines of Saudi working women. This documentaryfeatures a top gyneacologist, a TV news anchor woman, a photographer, and a university professor. It also introducesthe wealthy Prince Al-Waleed, who passionately promotes the acceptance of women into the workforce. He kindly invitesBacklight to his luxury desert camp, but there are no women to be found - only thousands of men.

The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.

Ahmet Nurudin is a dervish and head of the Islamic monastery of the Mevlevi order in Sarajevo. He is a personification of morale and dogmatic belief, everything that Muslim religion of the Ottoman rule rests on. Throughout his life, the atmosphere of the city, the relations with the judge and the mechanism of government, the image of Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century is being revealed. Based on a highly praised novel by Meša Selimović.

The richest merchant in XIX century Sarajevo and his fellow travelers are captured by a group of bandits. In order to learn more about merchant’s riches, the bandits’ leader investigates the group and discovers that merchant’s wife, who cheated on merchant during one of his travels, later – in fear of his vengeance played to be possessed by “rage”. Looking for the cure, the merchant brings his wife to Ahmed Jusuf – former warrior and man of authority. Jusuf advised the merchant to take his wife and move into another region – having an idea on what was the story behind wife’s rage, bat also in an attempt to protect himself from the feelings that have already stifled.

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

Houda al-Habash, a conservative Muslim preacher, founded a Qur'an school for girls in Damascus, Syria when she was just 17 years old. Every summer, her female students immerse themselves in a rigorous study of Islam, in addition to their secular schooling. A surprising cultural shift is underway-women are claiming space within the mosque, a place historically dominated by men. Challenging tradition, Houda insists education for women is a form of worship. Using Qur'anic teachings, she encourages her students to pursue higher education, jobs, and public lives, while remaining committed to an interpretation of Islam prioritizing women's role as wives and mothers. In a world rarely seen, The Light In Her Eyes tells the story of a leader who challenges the women of her community to live according to Islam, without giving up their dreams. Shot right before the uprising in Syria erupted, the film is an exclusive look at a social movement thriving in a country controlled by a repressive regime

Throughout the Islamic world, each year hundreds of women are shot, stabbed, strangled or burned to death by male relatives because they are thought to have “dishonoured” their families. They may have lost their virginity, refused an arranged marriage or left an abusive husband. Even if a woman is raped or merely the victim of gossip, she must pay the price. Crimes of Honour documents the terrible reality of femicide – the belief that a girl’s body is the property of the family, and any suggestion of sexual impropriety must be cleansed with her blood. We meet women in hiding from their families, a brother who describes his reasons for killing the sister he loved, and a handful of women who have committed themselves to the protection of young women in danger of losing their lives.

Sohail is an ambitious law undergraduate who signs up with MI5 and, eager to play a part in protecting British security, begins an investigation into a terrorist cell. His sister Nasima is a medical student in Leeds who becomes increasingly alienated and angered by Britain's foreign and domestic policy after witnessing at first hand the relentless targeting of her Muslim neighbours and peers. With action set in Pakistan, Eastern Europe, London and Leeds, both feature-length episodes detail a tragic sequence of events from two distinct perspectives. At the heart of this thought-provoking drama is a revealing examination of British Muslim life under current anti-terror legislation. Britz ultimately asks whether the laws we think are making us safer, are actually putting us in greater danger.

In these interviews, Dennis McKenna, Alex Grey, Rick Strassman, and other champions of psychedelics share their views on the value of psychedelic medicine, and its neglect in Western society.

A stranger in the city asks questions no one has asked before. Known only by his initials, the man's innocent questions and childlike curiosity take him on a journey of love, laughter and letting go.

German ship captain Gottfried Hinrichs reluctantly retires to his Bavarian home, hoping to find comfort when his daughter Barbara moves back home, convenient now she has become a commercial pilot. So he dishes out the usual objections when she tells to have found her mate, while ma Lisbeth tries to shush. When the lovers turn up for Christmas Eve, a culture shock follows, for her dream prince is Palestinian unemployed would be-pilot Kamal Abu Khalil, and neither 'liberal' parent extends effective tolerance to Islamic in-potential laws. Ultimately Gottfried is worn down, but then the incompatible religious marriage norms seem to break up the couple itself. It gets even worse when his parents found out and fly in, while she feels neglected as Kemal starts an electronic muezzin Internet firm with a friend.

Everyone in his village believes that Zein is a simpleton, a half-wit, an amiable buffoon. Thus, his braying laughter and public declarations of love for village maidens only win laughter rather than anger, beatings or worse. However, Haneen, a wandering Muslim holy man, perceives something more in this figure of fun: genuine piety and an inner radiance, marked by a powerful spiritual intelligence. One other person sees more in Zein than most do- the beautiful, pious and sedate young girl in the village.

A foreign woman in a burqa brings her young son to a Copenhagen police station to file a complaint against her abusive husband, but the translator assigned to her seems unwilling to convey the true meaning of her words. A tense, diamond-hard film about cultural isolation and bureaucratic ignorance.

In this sequel to "My brother the Islamist," we continue to follow Robb Leech as the tries to understand his stepbrother's journey and transformation from middle-class boy to convicted terrorist.

In 1971 Salford fish-and-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways. But his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain, increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion, and living in general.

This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.