Muslim Youth Voices

Nahla is tired of living in Philly. She complains of seeing the same things day after day and dreams of exploring some new place far away. But she doesn’t have funds to travel, and reluctantly agrees to a pen pal instead. As she documents her life for her pen pal, she learns to appreciate her city.

Asha and Roodo are best friends, or at least they’re supposed to be. One day, a distracted Asha, glued to her cell phone, ignores Roodo at school. Miffed, Roodo spreads gossip about Asha. When Aisha confronts her, will their friendship survive?

When Hana fails a test at school and gets admonished by her teacher, she feels she has been treated unfairly. “I wish there were no more teachers,” she exclaims. The next day, she gets what she wished for and finds that a world without teachers isn’t so great after all.

On a sunny day, two seemingly different students have an altercation on the sidewalk, leading to hostile words. Through flashbacks of each young woman’s day we see glimpses of their lives and learn that there’s more that’s similar about them than different.

Young Barry has a friend problem: he doesn’t have any. Lonely and left behind by others at school, he acts out by bullying Ted. Sitting at home playing video games one day, visitors from the future time travel to his living room, appearing out of nowhere to help him change the course of his life.

Like any teenager, Maleeka is nervous about her first day of high school. Will she fit in? Will she make friends? And most importantly, will people discover her secret? When she witnesses bullying on campus, she must make a choice that exposes her secret but ultimately allows her to be true to herself.

Grief-stricken Nahar mourns the death of her good friend, Layla. Despite saving her many times, Nahar couldn’t prevent the accident that claims Layla’s life. In this darkly humorous take on life and death, Layla’s wise words from the afterlife help Nahar find peace.

Another day, another stereotype about Muslims. It seems the media only has bad things to say about Muslims. Tired of the negative portrayals on TV, a teenager takes matters into her own hands and decides to show the media what Islam and her community are really about.