al-firaushah

“An Afternoon with the Hijjabed”

This is a short student film (8:29) from Multimedia University, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The video is a collection of interviews with five women, all of whom wear a tudung to one extent or another. Each of the women answer a series of questions (e.g., “what is aurat?” “why do you wear the hijjab?” and so on) to the best of their abilities. The film is interesting in that it captures a cross-section of women who cover themselves for different reasons. You have the very traditional Zulaikha who wears both the tudung and niqab, Natasha, who wears a scarf that covers almost nothing for the least satisfactory reasons, and three others who all wear a traditional tudung although one, Wawa, a student, apparently would take hers off in public given the right circumstances (i.e., when she’s with friends). Perhaps the line I liked the best is from the cigarette-smoking art director, Leyla, who said, “I am a Muslim woman, and I’m not afraid to show it.”
An Afternoon with the Hijjabed