MSGP has two exciting events coming up next week with actor and director Yusuf Zine:
Q&A Discussion on I Am Rohingya with Yusuf Zine
Thursday, November 17 at 10:00 – 11:20 AM
Mac-Corry D214
Sharing a title with the award-winning play of the same name, I Am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts (2019) chronicles the journey of fourteen refugee youth who take the stage in order to depict their families' harrowing experiences during the on-going Burmese genocide of Rohingya Muslims. Leading up to the opening night of their performance, the film takes audiences through the personal lives of the child performers, capturing their struggles as they adjust to their new lives in Canada, and exploring the difficult rehearsal process of recreating scenes of horror. With no prior acting experience, these youth must come together and re-enact the stories of their people in order to show the world that they will not be forgotten.
Unascertained: The Case of Soleiman Faqiri Podcast (2021) - A Discussion with Yusuf Zine and Yusuf Faqiri (Justice for Soli Campaign)
Thursday, November 17 at 6:00 - 7:30 PM
Kingston Hall 201
On December 15, 2016, Soleiman Faqiri was found dead in his cell after an altercation with a group of correctional officers. After suffering a schizophrenic episode, the 30-year-old was awaiting a mental health assessment at a Lindsay Ontario jail. He was pepper sprayed, shackled, and wearing a spit hood. But there was no footage of what went on inside his segregation cell that day. "Unascertained" pieces together the timeline of Soleiman's death and what really happened when guards entered the room. It's a story of a family's loss, mental health failures in the prison system, and a search for justice. The eight-part series from TVO Podcasts is hosted by Yusuf Zine.
Yusuf Zine is a professional actor and director in film, TV and live theatre. He co-founded his media production company in 2017 called Innerspeak Media. His first feature documentary film was I Am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts, which won the 2018 Cinema Politica Audience Choice Award. In 2021, he hosted, co-wrote and produced an investigative, true-crime podcast series for TVO entitled Unascertained and was named one of Amazon Music’s Best Canadian Podcasts of 2021. His on-screen credits include Circuit Breakers (Apple TV+), The Boys (Amazon Prime), and Transplant (CTV). He’s worked with prolific artists such as Hasan Minhaj, Maz Jobrani, Alicia Silverstone, and Director X.
