https://yasminemohamed1.wixsite.com/mysite
Author: y.mohamed
final doc
short doc
short doc treatment
PITCH: Selaedin Maksut, the youngest Executive Director of all the CAIR chapters nationwide carries the heavy burden of helping out the Muslim community in any way necessary. CAIR NJ, a non profit organization, has been working towards enhancing the understanding of Islam, encouraging dialogue, protecting civil liberties, empowering American Muslims, and building coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. This is no easy task, considering hate crimes and islamophobia has increased in New Jersey since 9/11. Not to mention, the CAIR-Ohio director was fired just three months ago for allegedly sending spying on muslims and sending information to an anti-Muslim group.
I would like to tell the story of the muslim community through the eyes of the people that work for this nonprofit since they are working towards bringing justice to various victims in this community every single day. I want people to see what muslims have to face on a daily basis, and why it is important to be educated on Islam, not through the media, but through their typical muslim neighbors.
I want to execute this vision by conducting various interviews with the ED of CAIR NJ and his co workers, I also want to talk to any of the people that they represent, and I want to portray muslims not as victims, but as a strong knitted community that stands up for themselves.
I want to use b-roll of the CAIR NJ office, the mosque, and any other environment that I find myself in that is connected to the story and the vision of what I am trying to portray.
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Edits complete: Beginning of May
Short doc pitch
I’d like to focus on the CAIR NJ team and what they are doing to serve the muslim community. I have reached out to the executive director of CAIR NJ and he has agreed to be interviewed if time permits. I am not sure about the angle, I think that will be more clear as I get to talk to him more. I might focus on the recent CAIR Ohio director spying on the organization and how that has affected the community. I might also focus on a specific case that is ongoing and relevant to the current work (a professor was recently fired for speaking out regarding Israel’s crimes.) I think the story will unfold as I go along with it.
Some people I would like to interview are any one that is present and working at the office, and maybe a victim that has been helped through CAIR NJ’s services. I might also speak to someone in the muslim community that is familiar with CAIR NJ and what they think of it.
final visual poem
rough draft visual poem
https://vimeo.com/688560914
visual poem treatment
PITCH: Serwan, a senior at Baruch College has been watching the news all night, he receives an email saying that his classes will now be online. He is directed by the CDC to quarantine because there is a deadly disease in the air that is apparently killing millions of people around the world. He has been diagnosed with severe asthma and anxiety in the past, he reaches for his inhaler as it gets harder to breathe.
Serwan’s parents own a small pizzeria that now has to be closed, he loses his job because of the pandemic. He is now unemployed, scared, lonely, and anxious.
He plays video games and calls his friends to pass the time. He eventually starts to lose track of the time along with his hope for the future. He is reading article after article until he gets a panic attack, he goes to the supermarket with gloves, a face shield, and a mask. People are standing 6 feet apart and no one is talking to one another.
He was supposed to see his mom and dad but they had gotten covid— they’re in the hospital and in order to cope with emotions, he sleeps. He sleeps and dreams of all the things he missed. He dreams of the small things, like commutes, laughter with friends, happiness, closeness, traveling, hugging, kissing, etc. He wishes he could go back and hug his parents again.
The world is dark, and lonely, the scenes are dim and blue, until we get to his dreams, where everything is bright and colorful.
There would be a poem that accompanies the visuals, the music will be ambient and slow at first and then fast and upbeat when he is dreaming of the past.
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“When Lambs Become Lions” Analysis
When Lambs Become Lions is a documentary that captures the story of the main character “X” who is trying to provide for his family by illegally poaching. Although the main character is committing horrible and illegal acts, the filmmaker tries to capture his reasoning and his motivation in a way that helps the viewer sympathize with “X. ”The overarching theme was perseverance in the face of struggle. X’s motivation was to provide for his family without having to work long hours for very low pay. The dramatic arc was when the rangers were introduced. The rangers hold the responsibility of finding, capturing and killing the poachers. The exposition was when the context of the story was introduced. When we were introduced to Asan and Lukas and understood their stories, we understood the politics of the situation. The rising action was when they set off to find another elephant to poach but rangers were everywhere, and the turning point was when Lukas decided to stop poaching with X because the rangers were dominating the land and enforcing very harsh punishments on the poachers. The falling action occurred when we realized that every character had lost hope in poaching and had to find another way to live. The denouement occurred after the director told us the updates on each character’s life, X becomes a ranger, Asan finds another job, and Lukas passes away from HIV. This story structure was very easy to follow and very engaging. The story itself was depicted beautifully and it showed an unbiased view of both sides of the poaching issue.
Pitches
Short doc: I want the theme to be focused on Muslims in America. Depending on whether I can get access, I would like to interview the Executive Director of CAIR and make him the central character because he deals with a lot of concerns that are bought up within the islamic community and he is very well informed on this topic. The structure would be to use him to introduce different issues that the Muslim community faces and use additional characters that are affected to expand on each of these issues.
Visual Poem- I would like to display different forms of love- love between siblings, romantic couples, children, strangers, etc. I love seeing beautiful genuine moments of love and kindness and I think we need to see more of that in the world.