For part-time filmmaker Yusuf Al-Rahman ’02, telling stories that shift negative perceptions regarding Muslims is more critical now than ever before. Al-Rahman’s independent feature film, “Niya,” which means “intentions” in Arabic, is about a close Muslim family’s financial struggles and how temptation has a way of breaking the best people down. The film received seven 2016 African Film Festival & Academy Awards—known better the ZAFAA Global Awards—nominations as well as critical acclaim throughout the film festival circuit, according to the ZAFAA website.
“I want people to see that contrary to popular belief, we (Muslims) value the relationship between a husband and wife,” says Al-Rahman, who wrote, co-starred, codirected and co-produced. “Anisa (played by Nikita Tewani) is the backbone of the family in good times as well as bad times. At the height of tension in the film, she does the very thing at the heart of belief in God…she prayed for her husband to be guided out of his dark corner,” Not a single mention of terrorism or supporting terrorist groups is mentioned in the film and that’s the reality for most Muslims. We condemn publically and privately any groups claiming to be believers yet kill, kidnap, or oppress in the name of God. The prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, never condoned such behavior as he himself was the victim of terrorism in the early days of Islam.”
The film, which starred Tewani, Nikki Valdez, and Naresh Kumar, was produced on a $10,000 shoestring budget and was financed largely from his savings when crowd funding for his crew failed. To cut costs, Al-Rahman says, he handled most of the post-production himself.
“After graduating film school, I originally wanted to concentrate on drama and martial arts action films but changed gears in light of the rampant Islamaphobia that was or is present in the media,” says Al-Rahman, who lives in Yonkers, New York. “I felt as a black filmmaker and Muslim scholar (I needed to show how) the majority of Muslims live normal lives (and are) dealing with the same issues as everyone else in the world.”
The 37-year-old Al-Rahman, who received a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in Arabic from Lincoln, earned his master’s degree in film and television with a concentration in screenwriting and film directing from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Filmmakers like Luc Besson, Ousmane Sembène, Michael Mann, Mustapha Akkad and others, he says, influenced his passion for film early on.
However, it was at Lincoln, he explains, where the many stories on campus and personal experiences further fueled his dream to become an actor and director contrary to the medical doctor his family hoped.
Al-Rahman was born and grew up in the United States, but moved to Senegal, West Africa, in 1990 where he became fond of writing short stories.
He returned to attend high school where he graduated in 1994, then college at Lincoln where he began in 1998. He would later transition to writing longer narratives, which also sparked his interest in screenwriting.
Interestingly, Al-Rahman currently works as a corporate technical analyst for the Fortune 100 international company American Sugar Refining, Inc., better known to consumers as Domino Sugar. He creates and manages new products, grain conversion creation sugar syrups, national internal auditing, and pilot plant runs of new value added products, which requires a lot of travel.
“I have disciplined myself to write while on planes, in airports, at hotels, and film on the weekends. I’ve been with them for going on 11 years,” he says. “My side gigs and (film) projects are my true passion and one day will become my (full-time) career, but it takes patience, continuance in honing my craft, and making that one project that opens all doors.”
And “Niya” just might be it.
The film, which has been screened publically in New York at the 2015 Olive Tree TV International Story tellers competition, the inaugural Peace December International Film Festival, and a limited screening at the Yonkers public library for cast, crew, family, and a small focus group, received 2016 African Academy Award nominations, including Best Producer USA, Best Director USA, Best Supporting Actor USA, and Best Supporting Actor Female USA.
In 2014, his acclaimed short film, “Father Must Die” was nominated by the African Academy Awards for Best International Short Film.
Currently, Al-Rahman is negotiating distribution rights deals with view-ondemand platforms for online streaming, including NewFilmmakersOnline.com, where his film is now available. He’s also in production with two feature-length documentaries, two music videos, and about to launch two pilot mini-series.
One of the pilots for YouTube, “Knuckle Game,” is about a kick boxer and mixed martial arts fighter that returns home after being falsely imprisoned for five years. His ex-girlfriend and mother of his child is dating the brother of a gangster and he must now find a place, a job, and take care of his daughter while avoiding conflicts with the new boyfriend and his criminal family. The other, which follows an international femme fatale storyline for a PG-13 audience, is about a Polish and Russian assassin who takes vengeance on the Russian mob. He plans to submit it to top film festivals for potential acquisitions as well as possibly Amazon Studios.
To learn more about Al-Rahman and his projects, visit: seffilms.com or imdb.com.
