Zilan Munas

Zilan is an independent filmmaker whose work is informed by her experiences of being Sri Lankan and Muslim, growing up in India, and living as an immigrant in the US where she works in multiracial and multicultural communities. Zilan has produced documentaries for broadcast on feminist and Third World issues since the 80s. She has been documenting Philadelphia communities, and in particular its Muslim community, for over two decades. In the mid-1990s, she was invited by Black Liberation Movement leader Kwame Ture to film his public and the behind-the-scenes activities. In the last year, she has documented the historic Church of the Advocate in Art of the Advocate and produced At the Wall, a film about the stories of people who struggled against racial injustice, clashing daily with Frank Rizzo's police force during the 14-year battle to integrate North Philadelphia's Girard College. Currently, Zilan is working on Tsunami Stories, a film about the 44,000 Sri Lankans who lost their lives, the 900,000 Sri Lankans who lost their livelihood, houses, parents, spouses, and children, and the international relief effort that barely addressed the problem. Because of her ability to speak the three main languages of Sri Lanka, and because she is a Muslim woman, Zilan is able to get stories and footage most other filmmakers are unable to access. In addition to raising money for tsunami relief, this documentary aims to make people in the US aware of international poverty, neglect and the everyday reality of Sri Lankan people.