The Rooftop Films 2009 Summer Series

The United States’ first Arabic language public school, Khalil Gibran International Academy, opened in Brooklyn to a firestorm of controversy. As critics and the mainstream media stoked flames in the climate of post-9/11 America, the fallout brought consequences for the school’s founding principal, Debbie Almontaser. Intifada NYC follows the school’s rocky first days, Almontaser’s resignation and First Amendment legal battle to get her job back, and the expansion of Stop the Madrassa’s campaign against alleged Islamist infiltration of the United States. Taking a unique and dramatic approach, the film combines exclusive interviews, dramatic vérité footage, news clips, graphic novel-style drawings, and an original jazz score mixing American and Middle Eastern styles.