title: Brigid Maher, Director of Veiled Voices

Brigid Maher is a filmmaker, tenure-track assistant professor in the Film and Media Arts Division at American University, Washington D.C. Brigid is the director behind Veiled Voices a documentary film sharing the stories of 3 Muslim Women leaders in the Middle East. Read my review of Veiled Voices.

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your work. What made you go into film as a career? How did you get started?

To put it simply, I was raised with a calling to make the world a better place and to learn about other cultures and people.  Film and media turned out to be a great means to do this.  I minored in film in undergrad and for my thesis film I traveled to Oman and profiled women’s lives in the country.  I think this experience among others pushed me to tell more stories about the Middle East and Islam.

I think you’re opening a lot of eyes, hearts and minds through your films, I both admire and appreciate that personally. What inspired you to do this work on this particular topic?

When I was 17, I traveled with my brother by bus across the Middle East.  This was right after the first Gulf War and we were invited into peoples’ homes and would stay up all night and discuss politics, life, religion, everything.  This experience launched my love of the Middle East and its people.

I later studied Arabic at Birzeit University in the West Bank when I was twenty and I made friends with women who were from all backgrounds.  Some of the women were very observant Muslims, and it was then that I realized I needed to learn more about Islam.  I returned to the U.S. and switched my academic focus to Islamic Philosophy and International Affairs.

What amazing experiences! How did the idea for Veiled Voices come up?

The idea was brought to me by a childhood friend, Dr. Karen Bauer.  She had interviewed Huda al-Habash for her doctorate thesis at Princeton University.  Karen emailed me and said that these women were fascinating and would make a great documentary and we took it from there.

Your subjects, Ghina, Su’ad and Huda, are all women at very different places in their lives, how did you find them and what made you choose them?

Dr. Karen Bauer interviewed Huda al-Habash who later suggested Dr. Su’ad Saleh.  I had taught in Lebanon as a Fulbright Scholar and a student of mind suggested that Ghina Hammoud might be a good person to interview.  I did follow several women before settling on these three.

These three women are just a sampling of many women that I interviewed. You can see more profiles online at: http://www.linktv.org/video/4309/the-modern-sheikha

For the longer film, Veiled Voices, I wanted to show the diversity of the women’s opinions and lifestyles.  I wanted to share what I have learned from my travels – Islam is pluralistic.  Profiling three women in very different positions both politically and personally was critical in telling the overall story of women in leadership.

I think you did an amazing job telling that story. Tell us a bit about each woman individually, something we might not learn about them from the film.

I spent the most time with Ghina Hammoud and she is very funny and has a great sense of humor.  She also is well loved by her students and they were very protective of her.  Dr. Su’ad Saleh, despite the fact she works in the media, was the least comfortable with me filming her.  She was still very much in mourning for her late husband who she loved very deeply.

What did you personally take away from the film?

I was inspired by how these women worked within their cultural frameworks to lead, despite obstacles.  They persevered and it inspired me to persevere with the film to finish and tell their stories, which was made with great support from American University but I had limited resources and funding.  It wasn’t easy.

What was the highlight of filming, something in the film or something behind the scenes that happened?

Filming Ghina Hammoud’s family when they would have the big family lunches.  They were so welcoming to me, even though it could come at a great risk.  They didn’t know me but they trusted that I would tell their story fairly.  And the food was amazing.

What sort of feedback have you gotten from Muslim and Non Muslim audiences? Positive and Negative?

I am most proud of the fact that people respond to these women and see the film’s representation as fair.  This was something that I spent a lot of time on in the editing process and in developing the film’s structure.  I wanted audiences to see and feel these women’s experiences, not my point of view as a filmmaker.

In my review I talked about the style of film being a bit “Reality TV” and you explained it’s ‘Cinema Verite’ (a documentary style from the 60’s). Why did you decide to film in this style?

I think audiences relate to these women more when they see them in both their public and private spaces.  I was intrigued by how these women interacted with their students.  They really  did treat their students’ as sisters and I wanted to capture that feeling.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? How do you think this applies to your work with Muslim women and your subjects in Veiled Voices in particular?

I absolutely consider myself a feminist.  I believe we need to establish a world of mutual respect and justice and I believe my work is in support of this goal.   We all can learn from each other and I learned from these women and deeply respect their journeys of faith and leadership.

Where can readers view or buy Veiled Voices and where can they get in touch (website, twitter, facebook etc.)?

Readers can rent Veiled Voices on youtube.  Purchase the DVD on Amazon and check out our website for upcoming televisions broadcasts.

What can readers do to help get Veiled Voices out there?

I encourage viewers to organize community screenings and launch discussion groups around the film.  We have a viewing guide and discussion questions available on our website.  If people are interested in using Veiled Voices as a teaching tool, we also have a guide for teachers available.  Thank you so much for help spreading the word!