The Halal Gap

On this edition of The Halal Gap, we bring you a very special episode: the panel discussion from our 2nd annual ‘Opening Credits’ event on October 13th, 2023. For the 2nd year in a row, the Mosquers Film Festival was kicked off with ‘Opening Credits’, an event where 300 Muslim creatives and representatives from organizations that seek to platform them came together. The pan

Imran J. Khan joins us from LA! Imran talks to Sikandar and Sofia about his new feature film “Mustache,” a story about a 13 year old Pakistani American boy who struggles to accept himself after transferring from Islamic school to public school in the late 1990’s. Imran talks about authentically representing Muslims and tells us why he thought “Mustache” would never get ma

Hassan Phills joins us live in Edmonton! Hassan talks to Sikandar about quitting basketball before his senior year to go all-in on comedy, the moment he realized Drake was following him on Instagram, and how he finessed his way into opening for Hasan Minhaj. Plus, we talk his early comedy influences, doing extra work, his vlogging days, and much, much, more! Co-Hosts: Sikandar Atiq

Amal Dalmar joins us from SoCal! Amal talks to Sofia about how she went from completing the thesis for her Masters in Law to working for BuzzFeed as a creative producer in a matter of a few days! We also get into “Dinner, Inshallah?”, the USHUB original docu-series she hosted which highlights Muslim American communities and their relationship with food. Plus, we talk about her

Mohamed Ahmed aka Just Moe joins us live and in person in Edmonton! Moe chats with Sikandar about trying to connect to the work of his grandfather, famous Sudani poet Ismail Hassan. Then, Moe sheds light on his experience at theatre school, including some questionable casting decisions. We get into his music career and how his approach differs from acting. Plus, Moe and Sikandar ch

Photographer Simrah Farrukh joins us from the Bay Area! Simrah chats with Sikandar and Sofia about her exhibit ‘The Brown Gaze’, shooting Never Have I Ever’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan for Netflix, and how Pakistani poetry influences her photography. Simrah also discusses taking a step back from Instagram, and how social media can be toxic for an artist. Plus, we get into Bratz do

Kashif Pasta joins us from Seattle! Kashif chats with Sikandar and Sofia about his early beginnings in film and his STORYHIVE series “Welcome to Surrey”. We get into Desirée Dawson’s “Meet You At The Light” music video, produced by Kashif’s company Dunya Media, which picked up multiple awards at the 2022 South by Southwest Festival. Kashif tells us all about his new sc

Content creator and host of the Salaam Nerds podcast WatchWithNeebz joins us from New Jersey! Neebz tells us about his first time at Comic Con and being suspected of murder. Neebz talks about The Bachelor & The Bachelorette and why it’s important for diverse voices to be part of the conversation on reality dating shows. Later, Neebz, Sikandar, and Sofia dive deep into what they l

Yazmeen Kanji joins us from Toronto! Yazmeen talks to Sikandar and Sofia about her early interest in advocacy, starting in the 5th grade. Yazmeen talks about her influences in film and entertainment and growing up with Bollywood and Disney shows like Cheetah Girls and That’s So Raven. After winning a short film contest in high school, she recounts a formative conversation on the

Alex Kronemer, co-founder of Unity Production Foundation, joins us on The Halal Gap from DC! Alex talks to Sofia and Sikandar about his early life in Pennsylvania as well as his 10 year career in government, which included a stint working for Al Gore’s Reinventing Government team. Alex talks about how his first time at Hajj inspired him to get into filmmaking, UPF’s projects an