$ Help Shine a Light on a Powerful Oscar-nominated Film (Executive Produced by Malala)
By Lena Khan
Film Director and Writer
Join us in bringing our new documentary short, 'Stranger at the Gate,' to a larger audience as we vie for an Academy Award.
Our new documentary film gives us a road map toward compassion and understanding during this time of hate. It's a film filled with Muslim heroes, and it's nominated for an Oscar!
Between now and the March 12th Academy Awards ceremony, we have a unique opportunity to shine a light on this film and its message while the whole world is paying attention. And you can help by supporting our efforts to promote the film's message that love conquers hate. We hope that on the night of the Oscars, when the name Stranger at the Gate is called out amongst the nominees, the world will know exactly what our film is about and what it stands for.
The documentary short film, Stranger at the Gate, produced and directed by the team behind the Emmy and Peabody nominated series The Secret Life of Muslims and executive produced by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai, is a prize winner at the 2022 Tribeca Festival, a nominee for the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, and distributed by The New Yorker as part of the magazine’s award-winning New Yorker Documentary series. It has been featured on CBS News, CNN, and The Washington Post. And it’s currently nominated for an Academy Award!
Our hope is that Stranger at the Gate and its positive message about Muslims, and the triumph of love over hate, will be celebrated and elevated to the biggest stage possible: the Oscars on March 12th. But we need your help to make this hope a reality.
What Do We Need?
We are a short film with an urgent and critical message and, unfortunately, a small marketing budget. Oscar campaigns are often funded by big studios with large budgets, but we are not in the same position. We are turning to our community via LaunchGood to help us elevate this film. The funds we raise through LaunchGood will go towards the press and publicity fees needed to amplify our film’s message during this critical time in the run up to the Academy Awards ceremony.
This is how your contributions will help spread the message:
- To organize and host screenings that feature Malala and SATG subjects in the upcoming weeks
- To pitch our story to mainstream media outlets including the LA Times, NY Times, CBS, NBC, and other thought leaders and journalists who can share our story widely
- To organize print ads, billboards, marquee sign rentals, radio ads, and social media ads to promote the film and screenings to gain viewership
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How Can You Help?
With each donation, comment and share, the film chips away at Islamophobic tropes, challenges misconceptions, and opens hearts. If we raise $50,000 this week we have two supporters of the film who have committed to match those donations.
Here is what you can do to help continue to spread our story along:
- Make a donation by selecting one of the giving levels on this page.
- Share this campaign on social media
- Share the following link in your What'sApp groups or via text!
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Our Story
An Afghan refugee named Bibi Bahrami – and the members of her Muncie, Indiana mosque – come face to face with a Us Marine who has secret plans to bomb their community center. But upon entering the mosque, Mac McKinney meets the people he intends to kill, and is transformed by their kindness and acceptance. In a true, nearly unbelievable twist, Mac converts to Islam and becomes president of the mosque! Directed by Joshua Seftel, 'STRANGER AT THE GATE' is a story of grace, transformation, and hope.
“Lets us into the soul of the type of person we read news about, but rarely get to know...and we find out the journey can both be terrifying and utterly beautiful.”
Our Impact
Stranger at the Gate has already been shown at 68 live events with a total of 7,250 attendees and has been screened online over 200,000 times. The film won a Jury Award at The Tribeca Film Festival, a Grand Prize at Indy Shorts International Film Festival, and several other awards at prestigious film festivals around the country. It was recently nominated for a Critics Choice Award and is The New Yorker’s most watched documentary this year. And starting on February 17th, it will be shown in over 600 theaters across the US.
Beyond the accolades, the film has become a powerful tool in an effort to transform society. By hosting live events we have fostered key partnerships with a diverse range of local and international organizations and centers of influence including:
- American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute
- Aspen Institute
- Commonwealth Club
- Concordia Forum
- El Hibri Foundation
- Facing History and Ourselves
- Illinois Holocaust Museum
- Interfaith America
- Museum of Tolerance
- Muslim Community Network
- Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Hollywood Bureau
- New Ground: A Muslim Jewish Partnership for Change
- Pacifica Institute
- Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Rumi Forum
- Skirball Cultural Center
- U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom
- Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
- Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
