Next week’s Movie Night is New Muslim Cool. Guests will be the star, Hamza Pérez, and the producer director, Jennifer Taylor. Lucky for us, it’s tonight’s P.O.V. on PBS. So check your listings, record and watch. Then be here Monday for another great Movie Night (8pm ET)

Puerto Rican American rapper Hamza Pérez ended his life as a drug dealer 12 years ago, and started down a new path as a young Muslim.

Now he’s moved to Pittsburgh’s tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family, and take his message of faith to other young people through his uncompromising music as part of the hip-hop duo M-Team.

Raising his two kids as a single dad and longing for companionship, Hamza finds love on a Muslim networking website and seizes the chance for happiness in a second marriage.

But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and challenge himself. He starts reaching for a deeper understanding of his faith, discovering new connections with people from Christian and Jewish communities.

NEW MUSLIM COOL takes viewers on Hamza’s ride through the streets, projects and jail cells of urban America, following his spiritual journey to some surprising places — where we can all see ourselves reflected in a world that never stops changing.

Producer/Director Jennifer Maytorena Taylor’s credits include the documentaries Ramadan Primetime, Special Circumstances, Paulina, Home Front and Immigration Calculations, and many short films and television segments.

Her work has won numerous festival awards and two Emmys. Based in San Francisco, she has held several arts and journalism fellowships — most recently with New Muslim Cool at the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Edit and Story Lab. (http://www.newmuslimcool.com/)

Watch Trailer HERE. New Muslim Cool will be broadcast on PBS /POV on June 23, 2009 – check your local listings.

[quoted text -as always- from the FDL Book Salon page]