Pakistani-Canadian-American actor, writer and director Fawzia Mirza has released a new short film Noor & Layla. Written and directed by Mirza, it explores and celebrates queer Muslim love. The film has won Best Short Film at the Inside Out Film Festival and Best Director at Image + Nation Festival.
This represents the latest in a line of award-winning short films by Mirza, including The First Session, Spunkle, Reclaiming Pakistan, The Streets Are Ours, Saya and I Know Her. Mirza has been named ‘10 Filmmakers to Watch’ (Independent Magazine), White House ‘Champion of Change’ (Asian American Art & Storytelling) 3Arts Awardee, and ‘Top 10 Creative’ (Indiewire).
Mirza also writes and stars in web series Kam Kardashian and Brown Girl Problems. Her first feature film Signature Move came out in 2017 and won 15 awards.
Fawzia Mirza: award-winning career
Mirza wrote, directed, produced and starred in her first short film The Queen of My Dreams in 2012. The film reimagines the Bollywood heroines and feminine perfection she grew up idolizing, but this time in a queer light. It earned a Golden Hugo nomination at the Chicago International Film Festival, and won Best Couple at Couch Fest Films 2012. Her second short film, The First Session, won Best Actress at the NBC Universal Short Film Festival.
Mirza has also won the Ron Kovic Peace Prize and the Jury Prize at the Social Media Impact Awards 2016 for her short doc Reclaiming Pakistan (2015). Her short film Spunkle won 5 awards, including the Audience Award at Prime Film festival. Mirza’s first feature film Signature Move (2017) follows a lesbian Chicago lawyer who discovers a love for wrestling. It won 15 awards after making its world premier at SXSW, including Outfest’s Grand Jury Prize. Meanwhile, Mirza’s I Know Her (2019) won three Best Short Film awards.
Mirza is also known for her satirical comedy. Her web series Kam Kardashian (2012) follows the day-to-day adventures of the long-lost lesbian Kardashian sister. Her mockumentary The Muslim Trump (2016) explores the story of Trump’s illegitimate Muslim daughter. Mirza has toured her own one-woman show Me, My Mom & Sharmila, now adapted into a screenplay.
Fawzia Mirza: personal life
Mirza was born in London, Ontario in Canada. Her parents came from India, but migrated to Pakistan. She grew up in Nova Scotia before her family moved to Indiana, where she finished high school.
Mirza majored in English and Political Science at Indiana University, before going to law school in Chicago. She worked as a litigator for two and a half years before quitting to pursue her career in film.
Mirza draws from her experience and identity as a queer Muslim woman in her work. She wants to dispel the myth of the “model minority” in the mainstream media. Specifically, she believes in the power of comedy to tackle divisive topics and fight stereotypes around race, gender, sexuality, class and religion.
Her first feature film Signature Move contained many details inspired from her own personal experience. The relationship depicted in the film between a Pakistani woman and Mexican woman was based on her own relationship with her ex-girlfriend.
The mixture of Mexican and English spoken by one of the film’s characters was inspired by the mixture of Urdu and English spoken by Mirza in her family home. “It’s another way of showing the similarities between the communities of people,” she says.
Fawzia Mirza: Noor & Layla
Mirza’s latest film celebrates queer Muslim love, in chapters marked by the five prayers of Islam. To this end, the film unfolds in reverse chronological order to the songs of a Muslim alarm clock.
Mirza’s inspiration for the film was a period she spent with her wife sheltering in Toronto during the month of Ramadan. It had been their first Ramadan together as wives, isolated away from their community during lockdown. “It got me thinking, how can we as queer people reclaim rituals from our faith and culture and family, and create our own traditions?” she says.
The film premiered at Outfest Fusion, a queer film festival that centres people of colour. Mirza has a clear message that she wants the film to transmit: “Queer Muslim love is beautiful. Muslims are not a monolith; we come in all forms and we practice in myriad ways. We are multitudes.” she says.
Watch “Noor & Layla” here.
