Goucher Presents Screening of 'Bilal's Stand'

March 10, 2011 |

Goucher College will hold a screening of Bilal's Stand — an autobiographical film about a high school senior who struggles to balance the demands of life and family to pursue an education — on Thursday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Kelley Lecture Hall. Sultan Sharrief, the writer-director and inspiration for the film, will lead a discussion following the screening.

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets must be reserved by logging onto www.goucher.edu/tickets.

Bilal's tells Sharrief's true tale of growing up and working at his family's taxi stand outside of Detroit. "The Stand" has been the family's social and financial hub for 60 years, and Bilal, Sharrief's protagonist, bucks expectations and tradition by enrolling at the University of Michigan via an ice-carving scholarship. The film chronicles his decision to leave "The Stand" to take a chance at social mobility. Stand

Sharrief recounts his saga using a mixture of budding actors and actual figures from his life, such as his ice-carving coach. During the five years it took to make the movie, Sharrief relied upon help from EFEX (Encouraging the Filmmaking EXperience), a community-based youth filmmaking program in Detroit that he co-founded.

Sharrief's additional credits include an MTV Movie Award-nominated film called The Spiral Project, which he directed at age 19. He also was the filmmaker of Mural (a feature documentary), producer of Fulfill a Hankering (a 25-minute 16mm film), and executive producer for the 2008 EFEX 16mm short film Taffy & Cigarettes, as well as several other shorts and video projects. He is developing The Bottom Line, another feature that tackles current social issues, with an accompanying reality series that will be filmed this summer.

Today, Sharrief directs the EFEX program, works as an artist-in-residence faculty member at the University of Michigan, and maintains his skills with the Michigan Ice Carving Team that he founded in 2002. In addition to being shown at festivals, including the 2010 Sundance Festival, Bilal's Stand is often presented at high schools and colleges around the country to help foster conversation about family, race, culture, and religion.