DBmH 13th of May on Hollanddoc

Delfts Blauw meets Hijab will be aired on the Digital Channel Holland Doc 24 in their segment entiteld ‘De Makers van Morgen.’ On Sunday May 13 at 13.55 and 19.11 and on friday may18 at 23.17 Afterward the Documentary will be available online for a limited time.

For an interview with me and more information please click here

Seeing DBMH

I have been receiving many queries where the film is available for viewing.

Unfortunately the Film is not avaible for viewing online.

However, on request via email to dbmhfilm@gmail.com, I can send you a DVD of the film for a small expense of 5 euro to cover costs.

Last viewing DBmH in 2010

This Saturday at the Chassekerk in Amsterdam, there will be two viewings of ‘Delfts Blauw meets Hijab’. One at 20:00 and one at 21:00. It will be shown as part of the ‘I’m a Believer’ Exhibition. It’s a very unique location to have the film shown. And I’ve been assured there’ll be Tea and Gluehwein So come all who have not seen the documentary yet!

For more information about the I’m a Beliver Exhibition, click here

For more information on the location, click here

Interview at RTV Utrecht

Article about DBmH

Read here the article over DBmH on the ‘Lover’ blog

http://www.tijdschriftlover.nl/blog/nieuws/delfts_blauw_meets_hijab

Where and when to see DBmH

Aside from the first screening of DBmH on the 6th of November at Scenecs, there are more events that are taking place with DBmH in November and December.

At the beginning of November, together with the first screening, stills and images of DBmH will be part of the “creatief Initiatief”. This is an Arts Initiative that showcases different forms of art in the windows of the residents of Amsterdam. Check their website and exhibition Route.

Also as part of their ‘I’m a believer’ exhibition, DBmH will be screening at the Chassekerk in Amsterdam in mid December.

On november 10th there will be a subtitled screening followed by a debate at the University of Utrecht. Please keep an eye on the ‘Screening’ page on this blog for details and updates. Hope to see you at at least one of the screenings!

Announcement Premiere

Delfts Blauw meets Hijab
a film by Janina Pigaht

Saturday november 6 – 12:00 uur
JT Bioscoop, Zaal 7, Snouckaertlaan 38, Amersfoort

For information on tickets and the location please refer to the SCENECS website www.scenecs.nl
For other screening dates, please keep an eye on the “screenings” page on this blog. www.delftsblauwmeetshijab.wordpress.com

Delfts Blauw meets Hijab selected!

Delfts Blauw meets Hijab has been selected to play at the 5th edition of The International Debut Film Festival ‘SCENECS’ that takes place from the 3rd to the 7th of november 2010! Keep an eye on this blog for details or visit http://www.scenecs.com/

The bill to ban the burka in France has been approved.

The bill to ban the burka in France has been approved.
This article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10611398 provides a number of quotes over and from french politicians I really want to react upon.

“President Nicolas Sarkozy has backed the ban as part of a wider debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters.”

National identity. Important to many, but dangerous when it is combined with so-called national “norms and values” and implemented to define not what is a french identity, but more importantly, what is not. I would argue that establishing national identity as a category in public and private debates, in this particular case, ensues Islam and French “norms and values” as mutually exclusive categories. In my documentary “Delfts Blauw meets Hijab” I explore how categories of national and religious identity are established and how they are blurred by female Dutch converts to Islam. I am not that familiar with French political debates on Islam, but I believe we can pull parallels between this French bill and how Islam is debated in many countries in Europe. In these debates communities and concepts of Identity are perceived as ‘natural’ social units. As if they just come to be or evolve out of the natural process of things, without relations of power or perspectives and people. In the case of the French bill I would claim that by stating what is not democracy or emancipation, French national identity is formed. And forming a national identity based on exclusion, is not a good thing.

“After the vote, Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said it was a victory for democracy and for French values.
“Values of freedom against all the oppressions which try to humiliate individuals; values of equality between men and women, against those who push for inequality and injustice.””

Excuse me, but emancipation according to whom? Also, I very much think a comment made by my brother is worth mentioning here: “French men pass law, telling women how to dress, to stop other men telling women how to dress”. I think its scary, that a law can be passed that regulates and controls my freedom as a woman to choose what I want to wear. If this is the beginning, where does it end? Will it be regulated whether tattoos can cover my face? Is a piercing already a violation of such “open-faced democracy?”

“The niqab and burka are widely seen in France as threats to women’s rights and the secular nature of the state.”

Karin van Nieuwekerk presents three reasons for negative reactions towards Islam in the Netherlands, that I think are valid also in this context, and are reactions we should be careful of:
Firstly, when cultural differences are no longer seen as a sign of diversity but one of conflicts, in which western culture is taken as the norm for successful integration. Secondly,when Islam is seen as the counterpart of western culture, in which the western culture must be ‘protected’ against the expanding Islam. Thirdly, when emancipation is seen as a fundamental attribute of culture and the headscarf functions as a symbol of suppression and incompatible with the self-image of an emancipated society.

To end with, I want to leave you with a different idea on emancipation or agency. In her article “The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling practices and Muslim women”, Homa Hoodfar gives her opinion on how the group of the ‘Muslim woman’ is formed. According to her, western feminism is racist and normative. They use ‘the other’ as a way to feel liberated themselves. The Muslim woman in that sense is always placed in a double struggle to on the one hand fight sexism (which of course also plays a role in the Muslim community) but on the other hand to fight racism. The question is, why should a Muslim woman have to choose between her own interpretation of emancipation or agency and that of another? Instead Muslim women should develop their own tools in order to advocate agency.

Update

The final version of the film has been edited and sent to the Dutch Film Festival that is held annually in Utrecht. (www.filmfestival.nl)
Hopefully it will premiere there in september of this year, so fingers crossed! If not however, I will organize an alternative premiere.
I will keep you updated.
What the film has become, I think, is an account of the problems dutch women face after having converted to the islam. It starts with an introduction of my relation to women in the islam, but for the majority of the documentary, lets the women themselves explain their role as moslimas in the Netherlands.
On a broader level I also hope the film lets us rethink dichotomous debates on the islam in europe.
Enjoy your summer!