The Daily Swarm

National Post:

Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam is a documentary film about Michael Muhammad Knight, an author whose fictitious book of the same name gave rise to an actual movement of Koran-packing Canadian and American punk rockers. Inspired by the novel, a motley group of religious misfits and visible minority Dead Kennedys’ fans band together to shock and open eyes on an American cross-country tour. Knight spends the film searching to understand himself and his religion. Currently immersed in Islamic studies at Harvard University, the 32-year-old spoke with reporter Ben Kaplan on the eve of the release of the film.

Q What do you think when you see yourself in the picture?

A Anytime you get a chance to see yourself as other people might see you, it’s always disorienting. Watching myself get emotional is a little weird. You feel a lot more vulnerable when you step outside yourself.

Q How gratifying is it to see a document of this movement, which sprung to life from your book?

A Sometimes when you get detached from your own story, when you watch it, you see it the way someone else might and it’s just… strange. You live your life, you’ve lived it the whole time, and you don’t get how something might be a sensitive issue, but when you see it onscreen, the way someone else would, you see that, yeah, that’s kind of messed up.

Q You’re fairly naked, emotionally, in the picture. What do you hope audiences take from the film?

A I hope it motivates other people who are confused or have doubts about themselves or where they fit to find their own place in the world.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=2107669#ixzz0U85kG6Pa
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