Heavy Metal Islam

"God does not forbid music," a character states in Heavy Metal Islam. But, of course, many governments do forbid heavy metal. This documentary takes a look at the surprising story of how a music invented for disaffected youths in the West has taken hold in the Middle East.

Director Jed Rothstein and his crew will follow young musicians from across the Muslim world as they struggle to avoid isolation from their families and cultures and struggle to be allowed their creative freedom. The filmmakers will focus the camera on musicians influenced by different genres of music associated with Islamic faith. These musicians take the Western form and adapt it to their own musical traditions, traditions from Iran, Morocco, Egypt and Pakistan. Rothstein's group will travel from the embattled slums of Peshawar to the homes of jailed dissidents in Cairo to underground gatherings in Iran where youth try to balance their need to be good Muslims with their need to rock. In Iran, everything is underground. In Egypt, security police offer grudging acceptance as they listen for any anti-Islamic lyrics. In Pakistan, musicians skirt Taliban checkpoints to get to practice.

Heavy Metal Islam is not a concert film, but it will use music to help tell stories of young people in the Muslim world who do not fit stereotypes (suicide bomber/burka-clad woman) and who share many of the same hopes and dreams as kids in the West. The filmmakers wish to shatter the common belief that angry young Muslims have only one outlet - violence - and show viewers that grace can appear "in the strangest of places."