FILM + VIDEO

FILM

AN AMERICAN PRAYER

WORLD PREMIERE AT THE BLACK NIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL ON NOV 23RD

“An American Prayer” is an interrogation of the American Dream and reveals clashing realities and stunning disparities. As Vincent Harding asked, then, the film asks now: Is America possible? Hundreds of seething tales of conflict, transcendence, and exhilaration in the enticing but bewildering USA are never seen on T.V. The AAP stories reflect a nation wrestling with the project of democracy while the world watches with bated breath. Always, we have wondered if the American Dream is real. And we have always speculated on its death. Its glittering image in the world has diminished in recent years, but most Americans are still trying to hold on to the American Dream’s ideals. As Langston Hughes put forth: “The land that never has been yet.” 

The film’s eclectic cast includes a young Pakistani-American woman who overcame Islamophobia and bipolar disorder to become a poet of repute; an Air Force RF/SATCOM technician who served in Afghanistan haunted by the civilians killed in drone strikes he guided; and a Black man who was shot and disabled from the waist down at 17 but transcended tragedy to become a Paralympics powerlifter.

DIRECTOR
Nusrat Durrani

PRODUCER
Catherine Ignatenko

STORY PRODUCER
Paula J Gilovich

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Nusrat Durrani

CAST
Adeeba Shahid Talukder
Lexie Robinson
Trammy Ahn
Simon Moya-Smith
Garrison Redd
Cian Westmoreland
Rowan Kilkenny
Liam Kilkenny
Nusrat Durrani

Release Date
In Production

TRAILER

ONLINE

Website: An American Prayer Movie
YouTube: An American Prayer Movie Channel
Facebook: American Prayer
Instagram: An American Prayer Movie

SERIES

REBEL MUSIC

CONCEPT

Rebel Music is an MTV documentary series that tells the stories of young artists and activists in turbulent countries fighting oppression and injustice. It was created with the insight that Western audiences have a one-dimensional and often limited understanding of the social, cultural and political dynamics of countries in conflict like Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey and Mexico. Simplistic mainstream media depictions have reduced many of these nations into stereotypes, and the voices of their youth are unheard. The series, produced with local crews often in dangerous circumstances, presents an inspiring and humane view of courageous young people in countries we usually associate only with terror, misogyny and misfortune.

The critically acclaimed series provided exposure to under-represented voices from around world and created an innovative multiplatform format and stylistic approach for short-form documentary film-making. It dealt with urgent and wide-ranging issues such as genocide, environmental abuse, gender inequality, oppression and homophobia in a frank, unbiased manner.   

TEAM

Rebel Music had artist/activist Shepard Fairey and music icon Laura Jane Grace joining forces with David Sable (Global CEO of Young and Rubicam) and series creator and MTV World General Manager Nusrat Durrani as executive producers. The series also brought together a dynamic and diverse team of creative, social and marketing talent from around the world which resulted in some of MTV’s most powerful storytelling of the past decade.

FULL CREDITS

IMPACT

The series humanized countries and cultures where various episodes were filmed. It was praised for its clear-eyed and inclusive approach to storytelling and for shining a light on the youth of countries in conflict. Rebel Music Native America: 7th Generation Rises, the premiere episode of Season 2 marked a historic moment when America saw its indigenous youth in a brave new light, taking charge of their narrative. The episode premiered as the first long-form original content on MTV’s Facebook page to enable Native communities without cable to watch it live, and became one of the brand’s most viewed and shared content in its online history. It was screened for President Obama’s senior staff and resulted in a collaboration between the White House and MTV around stories of indigenous youth and President Obama’s Generation Indigenous initiative. A partnership with Amnesty International enabled high-level screenings for their Art for Amnesty and Manifest Justice projects.

A spinoff “Rebel Icon” documentary series featured Joan Baez in its first installment and the singer became a supporter of the Rebel Music platform and its protagonists. The platform also produced and promoted videos for many of the artists it featured helping them gain new audiences. A RebelEd program introduced at various colleges around the USA enabled students to familiarize themselves with Native American history and culture.

AWARDS

+ Clio Awards 2014: Winner, Bronze CLIO for “Rebel Music” for Film: Long Form category
+ Clio Awards 2014: Winner, Bronze CLIO for “Rebel Music” for Innovative Media category
+ Webby Awards 2016: Official Honoree, "Rebel Music" for Documentary: Series
+ Webby Awards 2016: Official Honoree, “Rebel Music: Native America" for News & Politics: Individual Episode
+ Cable Fax (Faxie) Awards 2015: Winner Shoestring Marketing - Rebel Music: Native America
+ Cable Fax (Faxie) Awards 2015: Finalist Social Media Marketing – “Rebel Music: Native America”
+ Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian: Winner Education and Media Award 2016 for “Rebel Music: Native America”

EPISODES

Season 1: Egypt, Afghanistan, Mali, Mexico and Israel/Palestine
Season 2: Native America, Turkey, Iran, Myanmar, Venezuela, Senegal

VIDEOS

PRESS

Rage Against The Regime: How Young People Are Using Music To Create Social Change In The Middle East-  Forbes
Indigenous Artists Finally Get Spotlight They Deserve In New TV Series
MTV WORLD offers an unprecedented look at modern Native America in “REBEL MUSIC: NATIVE AMERICA”
Shepard Fairey teams with MTV on new documentary series
MTV documentary on rebellious Turkish youth hits 2 million views
Music for Social Change, MTV’s Rebel Music Amplifies Youth Voices In Areas of Conflict
MTV World takes on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
MTV viewers get a dose of Iranian politics
Indigenous activists preview MTV's 'Rebel Music: Native America
REBEL MUSIC' is the only thing you need to watch
MTV Will Explore Youth and Revolution in ‘Rebel Music’
Egypt: A Bittersweet Revolution — Behind the Scenes at the Biggest Protest in History

POP CULTURE

MUSIC

“He really is quite a sage when it comes to music and pop culture. He is a student of it, he could be a professor of it”

— Tom Freston Founder MTV and Ex-Chairman, Viacom

Nusrat’s career at MTV has been spent in identifying and leveraging global youth culture movements, introducing cutting-edge new talent from around the world to USA and Western audiences, and cross-pollinating, magnifying and monetizing global pop music and emerging technology. In the process, he has enabled numerous unknown artists to find new audiences in unlikely places. He created MTV World, a trend-spotting laboratory and content engine within Viacom responsible for producing provocative global pop culture and is credited for bringing cutting-edge European, K-Pop, Bollywood and Chinese pop music to the USA, and creating high-profile showcases for acts like, M.I.A., 2NE1, Rain, Seven. Jin etc. much before they came to the attention of mainstream media.

“I don’t think he knew what an impact this is going to have on so many millions of young people not only in this country but around the world”

— Suchin Pak MTV Host and Media Personality

Norwegian death metal, Swedish pop, techno, bass, Tuareg blues, Canto-pop, or Congolese hip-hop, Nusrat’s MTV World team brought scores of global acts to the West and produced hundreds of hours of content with them including artists like Jake Bugg, Arcade Fire, Tinariwen, Baloji, Of Monsters and Men, Disclosure, Santigold, Bomba Estereo, Soko, Miyavi, TaeYang and Empire of the Sun. Whether it be the provocations of future megastar M.I.A, the mad electropop of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu or the New Orleans Bounce of Big Freedia, chances are it was MTV World who brought them to the attention of the larger MTV universe and to mainstream audiences.

“I think Nusrat has that yearning to make everyone a part of this village where literally anyone, anywhere can be part of the conversation”

— Fred Siebert American Media and Tech Entrepreneur, Creator of “I Want My MTV” Campaign

Under his watch, MTV also created some of its most innovative concerts such as the “Best New Band in the World” (the first global, digitally enabled contest of its kind); branded entertainment projects like the Intel Presents The Music Experiment and Chevy’s Cover The World, but also MTV’s first virtual reality concert, filmed in 360 with the band St. Lucia at Le Poisson Rouge in 2015. With the Rebel Music series, Nusrat also helped re-ignite the music documentary format within MTV and supported persecuted music acts from Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkey, Senegal and other countries.

VIDEOS

AWARDS

+ The Webby Awards 2012 Official Honoree, "MTV Iggy Live: La Vida Boheme" for the Best Individual Performance category
+ The Webby Awards 2012 Official Nominee, "MTV Iggy Live: Baloji" for the Online Film & Video/ Music category

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