3 p.m. EDT Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020
Brooklyn Inshallah (2019) dir. Dir. Ahmed Mansour
Free; $5 suggested donation
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This documentary follows Father Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian American practicing Lutheran pastor, and, he hopes, the first Arab American on the New York City Council. Having grown up amidst conflict before emigrating to the U.S., Father K works to alleviate the mounting fears of the diverse but marginalized Arab American community of Bay Ridge following the 2016 presidential election. With the support of political activist Linda Sarsour, he mounts the campaign of a lifetime, taking viewers into the heart of identity politics.
United States / Documentary / 83 minutes / In English and Arabic with English Subtitles
Ahmed Mansour, born and raised in Gaza Strip, is an NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, News and Documentary Program graduate. His debut film Brooklyn Inshallah, a feature documentary on the first Palestinian to ever run for the NY City Council, was released in 2019 and premiered at prestigious film festivals such as DOC NYC and TPFF. POV Magazine wrote, “Ahmed Mansour has made a verité film about democracy in action.” He was named the 2019 MountainFilm Emerging Filmmaker Fellow based in Telluride, Colorado. Ahmed is the founder and head of productions at Philistia Films where he is currently producing two new films, Odyssey of Hope and Return To Ramallah.
Reverend Khader El-Yateem, “Father K”, is a New York community organizer and Arab American faith leader. For 23 years he has ministered the community at the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church. In 2017, he ran for New York City Council’s Democratic nomination. As reported by the Nation: “El-Yateem had surged close to the front of the five-person primary race, helping turn what might have been a sleepy, district-only affair into a vigorous contest with city-wide reverberations.” Father K was born in Beit Jala, a Palestinian Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of the West Bank, 10 km south of Jerusalem. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1992. He is married with four children.
Linda Sarsour is an award-winning racial justice and civil rights activist, community organizer, every Islamophobe’s worst nightmare and mother of three. She is a Palestinian-Muslim-American born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She is the former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and the co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPower Change. Linda was one of the national co-chairs of the largest single day protest in US history, the Women’s March on Washington. She has been named amongst 500 of the most influential Muslims in the world. She has won numerous awards including Champion of Change from the Obama Administration. She was recognized as one of Fortune’s 50 Greatest Leaders and featured as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2017. Linda is a 2019 Roddenberry Fellow and just released her highly anticipated book, “We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love & Resistance. She is a frequent media commentator on issues impacting Muslim communities, Middle East affairs and criminal justice reform and most recognized for her transformative intersectional organizing work and movement building.
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