Pakistani-American documentary filmmaker and political activist Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s Primetime Emmy-nominated film The Accused: Damned or Devoted? has been called a “scarily acute portrait of how religion and politics intersect” by the U.K.’s Telegraph.
Nominated for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, the film is an explicit account of the rise of cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who has been on a mission to preserve Pakistan’s blasphemy laws that prescribe an inescapable death sentence for disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad, and life imprisonment for disgracing the Holy Quran.
In the film, Naqvi explores the cases of several people who have either been accused of blasphemy or who have opposed the blasphemy laws – a group that includes Christian minorities, liberals, and opposing moderate Muslim voices. The World channel documentary is streaming on PBS Passport and Amazon Prime and aired on PBS stations in May.
Naqvi was recently appointed chairman of...
Nominated for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, the film is an explicit account of the rise of cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who has been on a mission to preserve Pakistan’s blasphemy laws that prescribe an inescapable death sentence for disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad, and life imprisonment for disgracing the Holy Quran.
In the film, Naqvi explores the cases of several people who have either been accused of blasphemy or who have opposed the blasphemy laws – a group that includes Christian minorities, liberals, and opposing moderate Muslim voices. The World channel documentary is streaming on PBS Passport and Amazon Prime and aired on PBS stations in May.
Naqvi was recently appointed chairman of...
- 8/21/2023
- by Sunil Sadarangani
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Mohammed Ali Naqvi’s latest documentary feature, The Accused: Damned or Devoted?, will receive its first UK broadcast on BBC Four on March 2.
The BBC Storyville project focuses on Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws by following ambitious Cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, examining the cases of those accused of disrespecting Islam, including Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent almost 10 years on death row.
Director Ali Naqvi said the project was “the most dangerous film” he had ever worked on.
“When I was initially approached to possibly explore this topic, I refused,” he explained. “As I saw my country falling prey to the political ambitions of a despot, one who was using Islam as a veneer, I wanted to expose Rizvi. Here was a cleric who did not speak for me or other Muslims, he only spoke for his own political ambitions. In doing so, he was also responsible for...
The BBC Storyville project focuses on Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws by following ambitious Cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, examining the cases of those accused of disrespecting Islam, including Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent almost 10 years on death row.
Director Ali Naqvi said the project was “the most dangerous film” he had ever worked on.
“When I was initially approached to possibly explore this topic, I refused,” he explained. “As I saw my country falling prey to the political ambitions of a despot, one who was using Islam as a veneer, I wanted to expose Rizvi. Here was a cleric who did not speak for me or other Muslims, he only spoke for his own political ambitions. In doing so, he was also responsible for...
- 2/17/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
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