“The Death of an Imam” is a documentary film directed by Geri Alumit Zeldes. The documentary was produced as part of the Journal/Islam project, which focused on Islam, Muslims and Journalism Education. The goal of the film is to address the media’s reporting on the FBI shooting of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdallah in Dearborn on October 2009. Zeldes worked with co-producers Salah D. Hassan and Brian J. Bowe as well as with MSU journalism and telecommunication students, Ryan Hurst and Sarah Jaeger Dorow to make the film in summer and fall 2010.

The film premiered at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in October 2010. The documentary received a King Foundation Best of Festival award from the Broadcast Education Association in 2011, taking top honors in the category of Mixed Video (for student and faculty collaborations) as well. It was nominated for a regional Emmy Award in the category of historical films. The film has been screened in several festivals, at conferences and at universities in the United States and Canada. Festival screenings include Capital City Film Festival (East Lansing, Mich.); Detroit Windsor International Film Festival (Detroit, Mich./Windsor, Ont.); and the Islamic Society of North America Islamic Film Festival (Chicago, Ill.).

Film Credits

Producers
Brian J. Bowe
Salah Hassan
Geri Alumit Zeldes

Director
Geri Alumit Zeldes

Editors
Sarah Jaeger
Ryan Hurst

Videographers
Sarah Jaeger
Pavel Kofman
Mike Tetrick
Geri Alumit Zeldes

Research Assistants
Sarah Jaeger
Megan O’Neill
Erick Shekell

Soundtrack
Composed by Brian J. Bowe
Arranged and Performed by Brian J. Bowe, Gretchen DeVault and Sam Merciers

Music Supervisor
Sam Merciers

Research for The Death of an Imam project website has been done by Salah D. Hassan, Brian J. Bowe and Donald Matlock.