Episode 1 : Filmmaker Qasim Basir

How does it feel to be a problem? It’s a question sociologist W.E.B DuBois asked over a century ago in The Souls of Black Folks, and which my guest this week also addresses, regarding both blackness and his identity as a Muslim in post 9-11 America. On this episode, I chat with writer/director Qasim Basir about his award-winning films Mooz-lum and Destined. We discuss the beauty (and the horror) of faith, the power of personal choices in the face of systemic injustice, and the importance of unapologetically black art in dangerous times.