Film Screening and Discussion: Nikah (The Wedding)

Nikah (“The Wedding”) is a groundbreaking new film by a Uyghur diaspora scholar and artist, Dr. Mukaddas Mijit. The film is a work of fiction, but it takes place in Xinjiang in 2017, when new policies criminalized many Uyghur practices, including traditional Islamic weddings. Nikah in its brief one-hour runtime explores gender norms and marriage pressures within the Uyghur community. Its cinematography, incorporating perspectives from cell phones and surveillance cameras, comments obliquely on the power of seeing and being seen.