deadCENTER brings diversity and more to Oklahoma

In addition to a screening of Equality "shorts," and three LGBT films (I am Divine, Pit Stop and The BATTLE of amFAR), deadCenter Film Festival presents more diversity yet with, The Muslims Are Coming! The documentary includes Jon Stewart and Rachael Maddow and plays this weekend the 2013 deadCenter Film Festival.

The Muslims Are Coming is an award winning docu-comedy that follows a band of Muslim-American comedians as they visit big cities, small towns, rural villages, and everything in between to explore the issue of Islamophobia!

These Muzzies not only perform standup at each tour stop but create ridiculous interventions in unsuspecting town squares, like the ol' classic, "Ask a Muslim Booth" or everyone’s favorite “Bowl with a Muslim.”  Throughout the film, comedy icons Jon Stewart, David Cross, Janeane Garofalo, Colin Quinn, Lewis Black, Liz Winstead and Aasif Mandvi comment on the power of comedy and the political scope of bigotry. They are joined by ever distinguished broadcast heavy weights like Rachel Maddow, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, CNN’s Ali Velshi, Current’s Cenk Uygur, as well as US Representative Keith Ellison, and hip hop mogul Russell Simmons. 

The Muslims Are Coming! is directed by comedians Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah – who also appear in the film. They take their comedian friends to places like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. “Our hope is to that film can bring people of all faiths and backgrounds together to laugh and to foster understanding, especially in these times when films about Islam are causing protests, division and, sadly, even violence,” explains Obeidallah, who co-starred in the Comedy Central special “Axis of Evil.” Obeidallah is also a regular contributor to CNN and has appeared on numerous TV shows ABC’s “The View,” NBC’s “Rock Center,” Current TV, PBS, and “Comic’s Unleashed with Byron Allen.”

“Muslims can be pretty fluffy and adorable and we thought it was time there was a movie to showcase that,”adds Farsad, who is also the director/producer of the critically acclaimed documentary Nerdcore Rising. Farsad has also recently been named One of the 50 Funniest Women by Huffington Post and has written for or been seen on The Joy Behar Show, IFC, MTV, PBS, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central’s The Watch List.

“The Muslims Are Coming!” feature documentary will be screening at the 2013 deadCenter Film Festival on Friday, June 7 and Sunday, June 9, 2013. Individual tickets are available or may enter with an All-Access pass.

The documentary, which won the comedy audience award at the 2012 Austin Film Festival, also features Muslim-American comedians Preacher Moss, Omar Elba, Maysoon Zayid, Kareem Omary and comedians of other faiths including Aron Kader and Scott Blakeman.

You can view the film’s trailer here:www.youtube.com/watch?v=1brf79VyF40

Rest assured, you’ve never laughed this hard at a Muslim!