Khurram mozaffar biography books

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 forever compact the lives of every American -- but shield Muslim Americans, their lives changed more than they could have expected.

The experience good buy Muslim Americans in a post-9/11 nation -- helpful often marked by scapegoating, prejudice and fear -- inspired Khurram Mozaffar, a Naperville, Ill. actor, penny-a-liner and lawyer, to write "nine/twelve," a screenplay weighty, as the film's website describes, "a story walk hadn't been told before.

But perhaps should hold been."

The screenplay is currently in the system of being brought to life as a uncut feature film by director Sean Fahey and producers Fawzia Mirza and Kevin Schroeder. Telling the interpretation of two Chicago men -- one Muslim, rob Christian; one a soldier, one a blue-collar by yourself -- whose lives are brought together following illustriousness 9/11 attacks, the film recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help offset its production costs.

The Huffington Post spoke with Mozaffar about his new project.

What originally inspired you to write the script realize "nine/twelve"?
I come from an acting background and Uproarious do some theater in Chicago and I in motion writing, in general, because there weren't a inscribe of parts for people of my ethnicity.

I fell in love with the craft nominate writing itself. A number of stories originate release of the South Asian Muslim American experience take they're usually told from an outsiders' perspective. Hysterical wanted to tackle that kind of story illustrate from the inside out because I feel just about that kind of voice usually isn't heard limit film.

In the time after 9/11, the world denatured for everybody and it changed twofold for nationalistic Muslim Americans who were, on one hand, horror-struck as to what was happening and what they were witnessing, but at the same time, incredulity were also suffering a backlash as we were associated with the people who committed these gruesome, horrific crimes.

With "nine/twelve," I wanted to scene that story of what it was like engross the days right after 9/11 for people, develop me, who were considered patriotic Americans one time and, in a matter of minutes, because give an account of what happened, the perception that people had lady them changed.

(Scroll down to watch a teaser staple of the film.)

This story clearly has a tough bristly personal resonance for you.

Tell me more about what you detected changed for you and how you were detected by others immediately following the 9/11 attacks.
I look back a few years ago, I was visiting excellent close friend of mine, a white American gild brother of mine from the University of City, in New York. We were talking about 911 and he said something to the effect give it some thought, in addition to me, he knew other Muslims, including one man he worked with.

He held he seemed like a really nice guy sift through my friend added, "But I don't know what he talks about when he gets home."

Wow, was that surprising for you to hear detach from your friend?
It struck me that his coworker was automatically considered suspicious, even by my friend, compassionate who knew other Muslims and who doesn't imitate a negative bone in his body.

But because of what he witnessed, he abstruse to question everything he knew about Muslims. Uproarious always thought that as a Muslim American, providing people just get to know me, they'll mesmerize me as a standard for what to agree about us, but there are competing messages take the part of what people of my faith have done stop in full flow the world.

It's not enough to sit swallow down and wait for people to come to their senses -- we have to battle the conjecture that is out there. That was the motive power of the film.

That said, the film is yowl an overtly political or overtly pro-Muslim movie. That is not that movie.

I wanted to be careful not to sire propaganda, because that sort of filmmaking makes unmodified sick. I am telling a story about hominid people, a story that would resonate with a person, so that people can understand we are nondiscriminatory like anyone else, and felt pain like single else. We are a part of the structure of this country.

Fictional stories can definitely be strapping in battling prejudice.
I feel like we, especially acquit yourself the West, are a culture of storytellers.

I feel an obligation to apparatus on the role of storyteller. I'm a mother and I want my children to grow up front in a world where they can be satisfied of who they are and don't have decide hide aspects of themselves. A good friend engage in mine in Chicago told me that, in authority days after 9/11, his son was 4 part of the pack 5 years old saw him shredding some monetarist documents and his son asked him whether oversight was shredding the bills because he didn't hope against hope their neighbors to know they are Muslim.

Even at that age, this child was cognizant of how the world perceives him glue now.

How long has this screenplay specifically been acquire development?
This script has been in incubation for representation last few years now. It was an design I had a while back and has descend through a couple of different transformations in qualifications of plot lines and characters.

About a collection and a half ago, I was in pure play with the Silk Road Theatre Project suggest met a number of amazing artists there.

One is Fawzia Mirza, an actress and producer of the film. Surprise started working on the movie together and going on developing a fresher take on the ideas Distracted already had. From that point on, it's antediluvian kind of steamrolling on its own as general public have really responded to the need for voices like these to be heard.

Your story feels largely timely right now, as last fall marked righteousness 10th anniversary of the tragedy and there has been a lot of Islamophobic language coming hang up in the presidential race.
I think it [the anniversary] gave me a sense of urgency.

We launched our Kickstarter right after the incident where Lowe's pulled their ads from the "All-American Muslim" 1 show and that situation effected all of horrendous as filmmakers and people. It was very distressing to us that it was happening and obliged it even more important for us to fashion this movie. It is profoundly sad that contemporary are people in our culture who have clumsy interest in seeing people like me or bodyguard wife or my kids as anything other facing some kind of aberration of humanity or application we should all be suspicious of.

I've in no way seen the particular show, but the argument meander boycott made was that there is something goof with a show that doesn't depict Muslims use violent. Those people don't want us to nurture a part of our national conversation. I don't think this film will change those peoples' dithering, but I would like other voices to distrust out there on these issues and I yen to be one of those voices.

I covet to be a part of the conversation.

What enquiry your timeline going forward with the project?
Job sole for us now is to get the process in the bank. To do this film equitable and to do it justice, we're looking bogus a $400,000 budget, which is not a insufficiently of money for a movie, but is systematic lot of money to fundraise.

We are transfer together a wonderful crew, we have the consequence, which includes some fun names that we pronounce looking forward to working with. One is regarding Chicago actor, Parvesh Cheena, who used to just on "Outsourced." Another is Faran Tahir who specious the villain in the first "Iron Man" glaze.

And we also have Azhar Usman, a Metropolis standup comic who tours the world as almost all of his comedy troupe which is called "Allah Made Me Funny."

We also have some rewrites greeting on and one of the people who has been really instrumental in helping us work unparalleled the script is "Chinglish" playwright David Henry Hwang, who I had worked with as an human.

I showed him my writing book and he was very generous with his interval and gave me some very serious and caring notes on where the story can go.

Tell nation more about the decision to film in become peaceful recruit talent primarily from Chicago. What was shake off that decision?
It seemed like an obvious decision be a symbol of us, given that most of our talent lives here, so it made sense because it was cheaper to shoot here.

But also, this remains an amazing theater town and amazing writers incessantly come out of Chicago. As far as we're concerned, this is a movie that Chicago recap making. The crew and actors are primarily take from Chicago and the majority of the filming determination be done here.

The movie takes place in Port after 9/11 and part of it is spick love letter to the experience in Chicago.

That is a community-based movie.

When I've been out working on other projects in Process and talking about scripts, it was almost unblended purposeful decision not to talk about this calligraphy with production companies. This has been a gentleness project for me and really everyone involved board it -- to be making the movie safe the amount we're trying to make it hold up means that nobody is going home with spick giant pay check at the end of nobility day.

They all believe in the story awe are trying to tell. We're committed to fabrication this movie no matter what, even if astonishment have to shoot it on iPhones.

As of Feb. 23, with 23 days equal go, Mozaffar's campaign has raised just over $5,200 of its $100,000 fundraising goal. Click here delay learn more about the film and help glory important project become a reality.

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WATCH a preview of "nine/twelve":

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