Director AHSEN NADEEM (US 2021) 100 min
Initially, filmmaker Ahsen Nadeem travels to Kyoto to document a secretive Buddhist sect whose monks are said to reach enlightenment through extreme acts of physical endurance. When a ringing phone gets him kicked out of the sect’s monastery, Nadeem reveals the true reason he has come to Japan: he’s running away from his own life decision — whether to tell his strict Muslim family that he has married a non-Muslim woman and, thereby, risk being ostracized by his parents or continue to keep the relationship a secret and put his marriage in jeopardy. This winding, often hilarious, thoroughly unpredictable tale is about asking questions, looking for answers and, ultimately, choosing to have faith in love.