Covering the recently completed Tribeca Film Festival is like a marathon sprint, with screenings all day and pieces to crank out well into the night (if you’re doing it right).  Except for the final day of award winning screenings, very little of the festival was actually seen in the Tribeca neighborhood proper (the Triangle Below Canal Street).  However, since it was founded to revitalize Lower Manhattan in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attack, the festival has become one of the most important North American film fests, rivaling or perhaps even surpassing Sundance and Toronto.  Like any festival of its size, there were a lot of hidden gems and a fair amount of dross to sift through. 

—–

The screening of Mohammad Rasoulof’s The White Meadow should have been the media focus of the festival.  Though Rasoulof’s himself is no stranger to Iran’s dungeons, the film’s editor, Jafar Panahi, a filmmaker in his own right, is still being held incommunicado in Evin Prison.  Thanks to the tenacious efforts of BH’s own John Simpson, readers should be well versed in Panahi’s story by now.  While not exactly the Tribeca lead for most outlets, the critical reaction was quite positive and deservedly so.  

Given the prevalence of tears and suffering in the archetypal Meadows, it is hard not to read additional meaning into its story. Frankly though, Rasoulof wisely keeps the political allegory largely obscure.  Still, there seem to be clear parallels between the bad karma the islander characters are suffering and the sins of the Islamic Revolutionary government.  Totally absorbing despite its unhurried pace, Meadows is a testament to the filmmaking talents of director Rasoulof and editor Panahi.  Resisting lazy classifications, Meadows was a clear highlight of Tribeca.  (more…)

Bosch Fawstin is the creator of Pigman, the jihadist’s worst nightmare, who wears pigskin leather to exploit the enemy’s pigotry. To see Pigman’s 1st appearance in print, check out ProPiganda: Drawing the Line Against Jihad.

Pigman, from ProPiganda: Drawing the Line Against Jihad

I wasn’t always an anti-Jihad cartoonist. Before 9/11, I had a number of stories in mind that I wanted to write and draw, stories that were put on hold or forgotten altogether in the shadow of the atrocity. I was working on my first graphic novel, Table for One, when 9/11 hit, and I liked the idea of portraying how an individualist would fare in the mini society of the restaurant world that I created. I had no desire to scrap the story for a more direct response to 9/11 yet, and so the only mentions of the attacks in the book are in some of the conversations between the New York customers in the double-page spread I post below. (more…)

I think the best way to introduce myself here is to post a modified version of the introduction to my new book, ProPiganda: Drawing the Line Against Jihad.

 
Though I was born into a Muslim family, I became interested in Islam only after 9/11/01 when 19 Muslims murdered 2,996 human beings in the name of Islam. Those who always gave a damn for the truth did their homework and found out first hand what Islam really meant before they said one word about it. But then there were the politicians and the ideologues. Even before the smoke cleared, Western politicians and intellectuals who knew nothing about Islam could not wait to exonerate it by uttering the anti-reality check of our time: “Islam means peace.” This ensured that a rational response to jihad by those in power would be sold out in the name of political correctness and multiculturalism. And though we have come to expect most of our politicians to be unprincipled whores, if enough of us were willing to know what must be known about the enemy and his religion, we could pressure these hacks to actually do their job and protect us without apology. Instead, our culture’s willful ignorance about Islam and its jihad has allowed our leaders to do just enough to give us the impression that they’re defending us. It’s as if they’ve decided that, while the protection of America is optional, the defense of Islam is absolute. (more…)