Riz Ahmed launches plan to change the way Muslims are depicted in film

Riz Ahmed has spent his years in film helping to change the way that Muslims are seen, whether through direct commentary or satire or by playing parts that Hollywood has conditioned us to not expect from a Muslim of color.

Now, fresh off his Best Actor Oscar nomination, Ahmed is set on changing that even more actively, launching the Blueprint for Muslim Inclusion along with partners at the Pillars Fund. The initiative aims to fund and mentor Muslim storytellers from their careers’ early stages.

The initiative will include $25,000 fellowships for young Muslims, which will be chosen by an advisory committee. Other actors on the committee include Mahershala Ali, Ramy Youssef, and Hasan Minhaj.

Ahmed, 38, born in London to Pakistani parents, posted a video on his social media explaining his thinking behind the initiative and as well as footage of his partners in the project.

“I’m fed up of seeing Muslim characters on screen either negative or non-existent. The industry must change. Our new study proves what many of us always felt about Muslims in film. The cost is measured in hate and lost lives,” Ahmed wrote on his Instagram.

“The representation of Muslims on screen feeds the policies that get enacted, the people that get killed, the countries that get invaded. The data doesn’t lie. This study shows the scale of the problem in popular film, and its cost is measured in lost potential and lost lives,’ he added in a statement.

The study in question is called ‘Missing & Maligned: The reality of Muslims in Popular Global Movies’ and was done by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, funded by the Ford Foundation.

The study reveals erasure and demeaning portrayals of Muslim characters across 200 top films.

More specifically, less than 10 per cent of the top grossing films from 2017 to 2019 from the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand featured at least one Muslim speaking character, and when they did, they’re depicted as outsiders, or a threat, or subservient to non-Muslim characters, according to the study.

The study also revealed that one in three Muslim characters perpetrated violence, and one in two were targets of violence.

“Muslims live all over the world, but film audiences only see a narrow portrait of the community, rather than viewing Muslims as they are: Business owners, friends, and neighbors whose presence is part of modern life,” said Al-Baab Khan, one of the authors of the report.

Ahmed himself in part wants to help fund a scholarship and support early careers because he points to his own scholarship and private donation as what allowed him to attend drama school.

The full study can be found here.