
When God Sleeps
After he addressed an imam in a song—which was taken as an insult—a fatwa was issued against the Iranian musician, poet, singer and activist Shahin Najafi in 2012. He travels from Turkey to Germany and settles in Cologne, where he now lives in fear: "sleeping with one eye open and with a knife under the pillow." Although Najafi is in constant danger, he continues to try to play music. When he adds fuel to the fire by releasing a new song about male domination in the Islamic world, the fatwa is issued again. Perhaps inevitably, this portrait of the "Salman Rushdie of rap" also covers issues such as terrorism, religion, repression, artistic protest and the refugee crisis.
Credits
Director
Till Schauder
Production
Sara Nodjoumi for Partner Pictures, Till Schauder for Partner Pictures
Executive producer
Lisa Kleiner Chanoff for Catapult Film Fund, Bonni Cohen for Catapult Film Fund, Abigail Disney for Fork Films, Gini Reticker for Fork Films, Julie Goldman for Motto Pictures, Chris Clements for Motto Pictures
Co-production
ITVS (Corporation for Public Broadcasting)
Cinematography
Till Schauder, Gerardo Milsztein
IDFA history
2017
Dutch Premiere
Music Documentary
Music Documentary