PITCH: Ramadan 2022 has begun. It is the first Ramadan since the COVID-19 pandemic started, which most Muslim college students will be observing during in-person classes throughout their spring semester. This main act of worship that all Muslims partake in throughout this religious month is fasting every day, which requires them to abstain from eating from dawn to dusk. Fasting might be more challenging to practice on campus.
Two years ago, when lockdowns began worldwide, Muslim students were able to observe Ramadan at home, with the comfort of praying there, breaking fast with their families, and having enough time to stay up late and go to the mosque for Taraweeh prayers since classes were online and their schedules did not include commuting throughout the day. That comfort is no longer an option for some college students at schools such as Baruch, and they will be adapting to this circumstance. For some freshmen, sophomores, and juniors this will be the first time they spend Ramadan on campus.
For these students, their spiritual connection to this month does not have to be tethered, since it could be tied down to Baruch’s Muslim Student Association which some would consider a gem and a necessity. Correlation and community are made possible through this prayer room and through the activities this religious club offers. In Ramadan, they will be supplying students with meals for Iftar, which are Zabiha Halal, ensuring that anyone on campus during that time can break their fast in union with their peers when they are far from home.
This short documentary will follow characters such as the board of Baruch’s MSA as well as members who frequent the prayer room, from sharing the history of the club to the importance of it for each individual, how it functions as a crucial part of their college experience, and whether they have faced inaccessibility in professional settings when it comes to praying or breaking their fasts. The arc for the narrative will be the main characters’ need for a prayer space/Muslim community on campus, their search and discovery of the MSA, their experiences before finding it, and finally, the way it has changed them. It will capture the necessity of the room and the sisterhood/brotherhood that it fosters. The shooting plan involves shots located at Baruch’s campus and shots from mosques and homes to show various prayer spaces and iftars that the Muslim community is acquainted with during this month.
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Edits complete: May 10, 2022