''Mooz-lum'' is a 2011 American

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

written and directed by Qasim "Q" Basir and stars

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

, Nia Long, and Evan Ross. ''Mooz-lum'' (i.e. "Muslim") tells the story of an African American Muslim family whose lives are changed by the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and their aftermath. The film was initially promoted primarily through

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, before opening for its limited theatrical release on February 11, 2011.

Cast

* Evan Ross as Tariq Mahdi * Nia Long as Safiq *

as Dean Francis * Roger Guenveur Smith as Hassan Mahdi * Azhar Usman as Brother Hussein * Maryam Basir as Ayanna

Plot

Amid a strict Muslim rearing and a social life he has never had, Tariq Mahdi (Evan Ross) enters college confused. New peers, family and mentors help him find his place, but the 9/11 attacks force him to face his past and make the biggest decisions of his life.

Filming

The movie was filmed in Southeastern Michigan. Although the college attended by Tariq is never explicitly identified, most of the college scenes were filmed on location on the campuses of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

. The mosque scene was filmed at the

Islamic Center of America The Islamic Center of America (Arabic: ٱلْمَرْكَز ٱلْإِسْلَامِيّ فِي أَمْرِيكَا‎, ''al-Markaz al-ʾIslāmīy Fī ʾAmrīkā'') is a mosque located in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. The 120,000 sq ...

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

Reception

As of January 14, 2015, ''Mooz-lum'' has received an overall rating of 80% from all critics (8 ''fresh'' and 2 ''rotten'') at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

. Film critic Omer Mozaffar calls the film "a long awaited breath of fresh air" at '' RogerEbert.com''.

Awards and honors

*14th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival 2010—Best Narrative Feature * Chicago International Film Festival 2010—Official Selection * 34th Cairo International Film Festival—Official Selection

Notes

External links

* * * https://www.facebook.com/Moozlumthemovie {{DEFAULTSORT:Mooz-lum 2010 films Films based on the September 11 attacks Films about Islam 2010s English-language films American independent films African-American films American drama films 2010s American films