Riz Ahmed makes an effort to portray Muslims in a better light in movies

British actor Riz Ahmed made an attempt on Thursday to reform the way Muslims are presented in movies.

After a survey, it was revealed that Muslims are rarely seen in movies and are represented in a poor light hence Riz Ahmed decided to take action against it as he launched an effort to improve the way Muslims are being shown in the movies.

Riz Ahmed, the Blueprint for Muslim Inclusion, according to the Sound of Metal star and the first Muslim to receive an Oscar nomination for best actor, would include funding and mentoring for Muslim storytellers in the early stages of their careers.

“The representation of Muslims on screen feeds the policies that get enacted, the people that get killed, the countries that get invaded,” Ahmed said in a statement.

“The data doesn’t lie. This study shows us the scale of the problem in popular film, and its cost is measured in lost potential and lost lives,” he added.

The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, titled “Missing and Maligned,” discovered that less than 10% of top-grossing films released from 2017 to 2019 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand featured at least one speaking Muslim character.

According to the study, when they did, they were portrayed as outsiders, threatening, or subservient. Approximately one-third of the Muslim characters were perpetrators of violence, while more than half were victims of violence.

“Muslims live all over the world, but film audiences only see a narrow portrait of this community, rather than viewing Muslims as they are: business owners, friends, and neighbors whose presence is part of modern life,” said Al-Baab Khan, one of the report’s authors.

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