Hidden Heart: A Documentary on Interfaith Relationships

I was wandering around Twitter the other day, when I found a touching trailer for a movie called The Hidden Heart. The director of this movie-in-the-making is Dara Afzal. Dara shares the background of this documentary on her site, saying:

“My journey began in making this film in December 2010, the inspiration came of the back of my own experience of being in a intercultural relationship, although I was fortunate to have the support and love of my family, however this wasn’t the case for some women.  There is generally a great sense of taboo and stigma of Muslim women marrying outside of one’s heritage community. I had come across women who would be hiding their relationship and living a double life for fear of not wanting to upset there loved ones.  As a consequence there would be an immense emotional pressure on the couples involved.  The fear of being alienated and judged can leave one feeling unloved and the only solution to avoid this is conversion to Islam and marriage. For some couples conversion has worked and for some it hasn’t.  In recent years we are seeing more women making choices for themselves where conversion isn’t the answer and are challenging not only the families but also the religious authorities in doing so.

The film is called Hidden Heart because for many people this is still a love, which dare not speak its name. But this film aims to be a part of a movement, which changes all that – with humour, and insight the film tells a moving story of prejudice, courage and triumph over that prejudice.”

For more information about the documentary, and to to view the trailer and donate to her fundraising campaign, visit: http://www.sponsume.com/project/hidden-heart.