ADMISSION:
Admission is free and open to everyone. Reservations required. RSVP beginning Monday, March 1, at 10 a.m.

DESCRIPTION: 
Join us for a screening of Manufacturing the Enemy, a powerful documentary that explores how Western media has constructed and perpetuated harmful narratives about Arabs and Muslims—and the real-world consequences of those portrayals. Drawing connections across entertainment, journalism, politics, and digital culture, the film invites audiences to look critically at the stories that influence public perception and policy. 

Post-Screening Conversation and Reception 
Following the screening, filmmaker and USC alumnus Sufian Abulohom will be joined by featured experts Evelyn Alsultany, Hatem Bazian, and Dalia Fahmy for a conversation and Q&A on the film. A reception will follow. 

Bios: 
Sufian Abulohom is a Yemeni American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. A USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA graduate, his films have screened at AFI Fest, HollyShorts, and the St. Louis International Film Festival. His work has been featured by The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, and BBC Culture. Through documentary and narrative filmmaking, he seeks to humanize and amplify Arab, Muslim, and Arab American stories. 

Evelyn Alsultany is a professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC and a leading scholar of Arab and Muslim representation in U.S. media. She is the author of Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion and Arabs and Muslims in the Media. Alsultany has consulted for major studios including Netflix, Amazon, and NBCUniversal and co-developed the Obeidi-Alsultany Test, a tool for improving representations of Muslims in film and television. 

Hatem Bazian is co-founder and professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College, the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States. He also teaches at UC Berkeley, where he founded the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project. His scholarship focuses on Islamophobia, race, religion, and the experiences of Muslim communities in the United States and beyond. 

Dalia Fahmy is Associate Professor of Political Science at Long Island University. Her research focuses on U.S. foreign policy, political Islam, democratization, and the Middle East. She has authored and edited several books and has published widely on Islamophobia and international politics. Fahmy is a frequent commentator whose work has appeared in outlets including CNN, PBS, CNBC, The Washington Post, and Al Jazeera. 

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by Evelyn Alsultany (American Studies and Ethnicity).  

Image: Aleks Phoenix