At a hip Brooklyn bar, Eman tells friends about an upcoming play she’s starring in and that her mother is flying in from Columbia to see her perform. Eman says, “I told her there’s going to be a scene that might make you uncomfortable because my character kisses another character.” A friend remarks, “You couldn’t just say “you kiss a girl?” Eman exclaims, “Nope!” In her work as a sociologist, Eman studies themes that have emerged from her own life through situations like this: the intersections of her queer and religious identities, with a particular interest in second-generation immigrant Muslim Americans. She holds workshops for queer students and deconstructs the “coming out” narrative. She says, “You often have to come out to the same person over and over again.”

In Columbia, Eman’s mother, Fatten, is a psychiatrist and self-proclaimed “non-feminist.” Like Eman, she defies Western stereotypes of Muslim women. Fatten raised Eman and her sister Arwa as a single mother in Missouri. For Fatten, religion is her sole guiding principle in life. By contrast, Eman finds herself questioning faith as she moves through adulthood. At the same time, she recognizes that her relationship with her mother is one of the most important in her life.

Festivals & Awards: Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Frameline Film Festival, Outfest Film Festival, NewFest

About the Filmmaker:

Sandra Itäinen is a Finnish film director, producer, and editor based in New York City. Sandra’s directorial feature debut COMING AROUND premiered at Thessaloniki 2023, nominated for the Golden Alexander in the Newcomers Competition. Documentary editing credits include TOMBOY (SXSW, 2020) and award-winning KELET (DocPoint, 2020). In 2021, she directed the short documentary series NOITAPIIRIT (eng. COVENS) to critical acclaim for Finnish YLE. Sandra’s first documentary short THE WEAVEOLOGIST (2016) screened at multiple film festivals, among others DOC NYC. She is the associate producer of DARK MONEY (dir. Kimberly Reed) which premiered at Sundance 2018, nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Before moving into film, Sandra worked as a journalist for Finnish YLE. She works to amplify women’s voices through filmmaking and focuses mainly on themes revolving around identity, power dynamics and family, through a millennial lens. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts and an MSS from the University of Helsinki.