The Muslims Are Coming - Film Screening + Q&A

The Muslims Are Coming! is a 78 minute documentary screening followed by a Q&A featuring a traveling band of Muslim-American comedians doing shows across America and meeting locals along the way—peppered with appearances from Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, Russell Simmons, Janeane Garofalo, Lewis Black, Congressional Representative Keith Ellison, and many more. The documentary represents a couple of comedians’ dream to change the crappy stereotypes about Muslims and move the dialogue toward inclusion, community and love! Q&A is presented by directors (and comedians) Negin Farsad & Dean Obeidallah. Obeidallah was originally trained as and became a practicing lawyer. Farsad entered the world of comedy and filmmaking from graduate studies in public policy, later working as a senior policy advisor for NYC. They provide a depth of social justice analysis that the average comedian might not have, with the hilarity that the average policy maker definitely does not have. This makes for an engaging, educational and above all funny look at the issues facing Muslims and immigrants of all stripes. Campuses also have the option of adding a comedy show to the event.

BIOS OF DIRECTORS:

Negin Farsad: In addition to being named a TED Fellow (and giving a Talk), Negin Farsad was recently named one of the 50 Funniest Women by the Huffington Post. She has written for, created, and appeared on various shows on Comedy Central, MTV, PBS, IFC, AOL, and Nickelodeon among others. As a standup comedian she has appeared on the Joy Behar show, at Town Hall on Broadway, UCB, Gotham, and at umpteen comedy spots, colleges and universities around the country and in the UK. She is also director/producer of current feature film release Nerdcore Rising (SXSW premiere, New Video Distribution) and the upcoming feature release The Muslims Are Coming! starring Jon Stewart, Lewis Black, Rachel Maddow, Janeane Garofalo, and David Cross.

Dean Obeidallah was one of the stars of Comedy Central “Axis of Evil” special and has appeared on numerous TV shows including ABC’s “The View,” “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen,” VH1’s “Morning Buzz,” HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight,” the PBS Special “Muslim-American Comedians Come of Age,” and can be seen weekly offering comedic commentary on issues of the week on CNN. Dean is the co-creator of the annual NY Arab-American Comedy Festival which will celebrate its 10 anniversary in 2013. He co-created Comedy Central’s Internet series “The Watch List.” Dean also co-created and performs with Jewish-American comedian Scott Blakeman their show “Stand up for Peace” intended to bring Jewish, Muslim and Arab college students together to laugh. In addition to performing at colleges across the US, Dean has performed stand up across the Middle East.