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Canadian filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz, 35, has built a successful mini-career making films<\/a> based on the unlikely combination of terrorism and comedy. \u201cI call it a \u2018terrordy\u2019,\u201d she explains. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve created a new genre of film.\u201d Hoping to be a sort of \u201cMuslim Woody Allen\u201d, Zarqa focuses on the eventful lives of Muslims in North America and pulls no punches \u2013 or punch lines. Her first short film, \u201c BBQ Muslims<\/a>,\u201d was made in the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Two Muslim brothers whose backyard barbecue explodes end up in the headlines as terrorist suspects<\/a>. \u201cThis bombing has all the markings of Islamic fundamentalists: a large hole in the ground, charred grass and dead animals,\u201d says the announcer on the local radio. \u201cWhat else could you ask for?\u201d Her second film, \u201c Death Threat<\/a>\u201c, features a young Muslim woman writer whose pulp-fiction novel has been rejected fifty-nine times. Desparate to find a publisher, she concocts a fake death threat in order to generate a Salman-Rushdie style controversy (thinking it will make her popular) only to find her tactics backfiring on her. \u201cI think people are surprised that someone would make a comedy [about such serious issues],\u201d says Nawaz, who has also been a regular commentator<\/a> on CBC News and an active participant in interfaith<\/a> and community dialogue<\/a> since the 9\/11 attacks. Now that her short films have found a margin of success in various North American film festivals, Zarqa is focusing on her next project \u2013 a feature film entitled \u201c Real Terrorists Don\u2019t Bellydance<\/a>,\u201d which makes light of the struggle between Muslims and filmmakers who make stereotype-laden films. Ironically, some Muslims feel Zarqa\u2019s films are stereotype-laden, but she shrugs it off<\/a>. \u201cI would rather see a goofy, silly Muslim on film which is essentially harmless,\u201d she explains, \u201cthan a Muslim playing competent wife abuser.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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