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A Balloon for Allah

52 minutes 2010 6.9

When the Norwegian-Turkish filmmaker Nefise was little, she used to send balloon letters to Allah. Now she wants to send a new balloon to change the role of women in Muslim culture. Following her grandmother's "Sufi" path, she embarks on a journey to find her way back to true Islam.

The film oscillates between her actual journey and her dreams. She experiences diversity in Cairo, Istanbul and Oslo by drinking tea with Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi, finding hope and inspiration in the life of 90-year-old author Gamal Al-Banna and meeting a young extremist. On his way through the labyrinth, Nephi begins to realize that Islam is not the only source of the problem, but that there is a connection between the three Abrahamic religions and the oppression of women.

This is Nefise Özkal Lorentzen's second film in her trilogy on Islam. The first was Gender Me from 2008, which dealt with homosexuality. The trilogy ends with Mannislam, a third film about masculinity in Islam.

The film is not playable outside of Norway
Original title: En ballong til Allah
Category: Documentary
Genre: Documentary
Director: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
Producer: Jørgen Lorentzen
Script: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
Starring: Nefise Özkal Lorentzen
Country: Norway
Language: Arabic, English