Filmmaker Talk: The Great Muslim American Road Trip

Sebastian Robins and Mona Haydar from "The Great Muslim American Road Trip"

Credit: Courtesy of Adam McCall

The Great Muslim American Road Trip follows a millennial Muslim American couple on a cross-country journey along historic Route 66. During a time when Islamophobia is on the rise, join us to learn more about this dynamic PBS show from the filmmakers—the director Alex Kronemer, artist and star Mona Haydar, and scholar Kambiz GhaneaBassiri. PBS will host a virtual event, Filmmaker Talk: The Great Muslim American Road Trip, on Thursday, August 4 at 8 p.m. on WXXI's Facebook page.

Alex Kronemer has been working for peace and interfaith understanding for most of his adult life. In 1999, Alex and author Michael Wolfe co-founded Unity Productions Foundation, a media and educational nonprofit dedicated to creating peace and understanding about Muslims, Islam, and other religions in the world. Unity Production Foundation (UPF) has gone on to produce twelve documentaries for national broadcast and theatrical release and has received numerous prestigious film awards, including an Emmy nomination for a PBS docudrama “The Sultan and the Saint,” which Alex wrote and directed. Alex is the Director and Writer of The Great Muslim American Road Trip.

Mona Haydar is a Syrian American Muslim born in Flint, Michigan. An English major and a poet, Mona Haydar holds an M.A. in Christian Ethics from the Union Theological Seminary in New York. In 2016 she turned her talents to rap music. When her debut song “Wrap my Hijab” went viral, Billboard Magazine placed it among “The 20 Best Protest Songs of 2017” and named it one of the “Top 25 Feminist Anthems.” Along with her husband Sebastian Robins, Mona is the co-host of The Great Muslim American Road Trip.

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is the Thomas Lamb Eliot Professor of Religion and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, OR. Dr. GhaneaBassiri is an internationally recognized scholar in Islam in America and the Middle East, he was named a Carnegie Scholar for his book A History of Islam in America and a Guggenheim Fellow for his current book project on the mosque in Islamic history. He also served as one of five national scholars who developed the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.