As the global community continues to grapple with the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Atlantic Council is open for business. Our business, meetings, and events, however, are occurring virtually. For more information, please read an update from our President and CEO.
Each wave of new immigrants to the United States faces a challenge in being accepted by previously settled immigrants and by dominant racial groups. What’s more, ethnic, racial, and religious discrimination add to the difficulties of becoming a full and active part of the American experience. Many Pakistani-American immigrants have suffered such discrimination and many have also struggled to balance their heritage with the customs and mores of their new homeland. In the newly-released and well received film I’ll Meet You There, Pakistani-American filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal dives deeply into both discrimination and cultural baggage issues that a Pakistani-American policeman and his dance-loving daugher face while navigating a post-9/11 America.
Based in Chicago, their community comes under the suspicious eye of the FBI looking for terrorist financing in their community mosque. The drama intensifies as the policeman’s visiting and ailing father from Pakistan is swept up in the FBI dragnet.
Please join the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center on Friday, May 21 at 2:00 PM US EST / 11:00 PM PKT for a conversation with filmmaker Iram Parveen Bilal and Atlantic Council Distinguished Fellow Shuja Nawaz on Bilal’s film, I’ll Meet You There and the underlying issues it addresses relating to immigrants, identity, race and surveillance, and more.
Also participating in the discussion are lead actor Faran Tahir, two human rights lawyers, Faiza Patel and Hasan Alam, Madihha Ahussain of Muslim Advocates and Sangita Shresthova, a film critic. Hasan Alam will add a Pakistani-Canadian perspective to this exchange as he recently wrote an editorial for the Toronto Star on this topic.
Featuring
Iram Parveen Bilal
Filmmaker of I’ll Meet You There
Hasan Alam
Staff Lawyer
British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union
Faiza Patel
Co-Director
Brennan Center’s Liberty & National Security Program
Faran Tahir
Actor
Sangita Shresthova
Director of Research and Programs and Co-PI
Civic Paths Group
Madihha Ahussain
Special Counsel for Anti-Muslim Bigotry
Muslim Advocates
Moderated by
Shuja Nawaz
Distinguished Fellow
Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center
The South Asia Center (SAC) is the hub for the Atlantic Council’s analysis of the political, social, geographical, and cultural diversity of the region.
At the intersection of South Asia and its geopolitics, SAC cultivates dialogue to shape policy and forge ties between the region and the global community.
Related content
