30 Mosques/30 Days

Bassam Tariq, a struggling copywriter, is to wed in the fall.  He and his closest friend, Aman Ali, plan to travel from coast to coast for a month prior to Bassam’s wedding.  But this is not a regular road trip. Both devout Muslims, Bassam’s and Aman’s trip will take place during Ramadan.  Fasting during the days, they will attend mosque dinners every night and sleep on prayer rugs as they journey into a divided America in which anti-mosque and anti-Muslim protests are on the rise. 

Over the past two years, Bassam and Aman were thrust into the role of spokespeople for America’s Muslims following their first two Ramadan road trips.  Their funny, heartfelt and insightful reflections on these journeys have drawn widespread attention as the most unique window into an otherwise relatively unknown community.  CNN named them two of the Top Newsmakers for 2010 and NPR called them “Cultural Ambassadors to the World.” 

30 Mosques/30 Days will be a personal coming-of-age story that captures this pivotal moment in an era wrestling with religious pluralism through a very fresh perspective.  The 70-minute documentary moves beyond a conventional road trip to tell 30 separate stories and Syeed and Mullick  plan to explore use of cinema verite, photography, and use of archival, song and poetry content.