2 Sundance Staffers Resign in Protest Over ‘Jihad Rehab’ Documentary
thewrap.comIndieWire. Brenda Coughlin, director of Impact and Strategy with the Sundance Institute, and Karim Ahmad, director of the Outreach & Inclusion Program, both resigned during the festival in the wake of criticism that “Jihad Rehab” is Islamophobic and promotes jingoism and other stereotypes.
And some associated with the movie have sought to distance themselves from their involvement via social media. As first reported by IndieWire, Coughlin and Ahmad were each tagged on an email sent to the festival’s directors in which a group of Muslim filmmakers voiced their concerns over the documentary.
However, neither participated in a Zoom follow-up meeting that staffers had with the authors of the letter to address their concerns. “We would like to extend our gratitude to both Brenda Coughlin and Karim Ahmad for their contributions to Sundance Institute.
As an organization, the Sundance Institute has always been about supporting artists. We’re grateful for everything the Impact, Engagement, and Advocacy and Outreach & Inclusion teams have done under Brenda and Karim’s leadership over the years to drive the Institute towards being more inclusive, accessible, and supportive of the diverse Sundance community,” a rep for Sundance said in a statement. “We deeply value the work of our teams in these areas from advancing our efforts to support storytelling by and for people who have been historically marginalized to continuing our field-building initiatives.
Read more on thewrap.com