SCA graduate student committed to social justice


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Omar Al Dakheel, a third-year graduate student in the USC School of Cinematic Arts, is an aspiring filmmaker. Between being an advocate for social justice and Muslim rights, he spends large amounts of time involved on campus as a resident assistant and filmmaker. The artist sat down with the Daily Trojan to share his passion for both film and Muslim rights and how he plans to pursue both of these interests through his work.

Daily Trojan: What kind of films have you made?

Omar Al Dakheel: I made short fictions and documentaries. My fiction was called The Trojan and its about an Iraqi-war-scarred refugee who hides behind a sports mascot to gain confidence and be accepted. And my documentary Jihad in Hollywood was about a Syrian refugee named Jihad who lost his acting career because of war in Syria and had to flee, now he is in Hollywood as a refugee trying to reinvent himself and renew his career.

DT: What do you aspire to do as a filmmaker?

OAD: All in the drama genre, which is what like most. I aspire to direct and produce films that tell accurate stories about people like me who are Arabs and Muslims. I think art is the best way to connect the gap between the East and West.

 

DT: How have your films been instrumental in providing dialogue for the Muslim community?

OAD: My films have not only opened a dialogue within the Muslim community but also with the Western audience. They connect all of us with common human denominators, which are to live for your potential, live in peace, prosperity, love and be loved, get treated with justice and respect.

DT: What inspires you about film?

OAD: It’s the best way to produce and preserve history. Films make me feel, and therefore inspire me to think, and therefore change and so evolve. And that’s how human beings should progress.

DT: What is your next project?

OAD: My next project is called Al Imam. It’s about one of the world’s few female imams that advocates for a reform within Islam that’s more egalitarian toward women and minorities.