Little Mosque on the Prairie
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Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007)
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television presents the Canada Award
to the comedy series, Little Mosque on the Prairie.
Created and supported by the Multiculturalism Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage since 1988, the Canada Award honours excellence in mainstream television programming that reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada. It aims to promote greater opportunities for ethnic and visible minority professionals within the broadcasting industry on both sides of the camera.
Set in the prairie town of Mercy, the first season of Little Mosque
on the Prairie takes an unabashedly humourous look at a Muslim community
and its attempt to live in harmony with the often skeptical, even suspicious,
residents of their small town surroundings. This unique sitcom reveals
that, although diverse, we are all surprisingly similar when it comes
to family, love, the generation gap and our attempts to balance our secular
and religious lives.
Exploring the dynamics of Muslim and non-Muslim relationships, the series takes on the decidedly difficult task of countering the prevailing adverse image of Muslims that appears almost daily in news reports from around the world. It is created by well-known Muslim Canadian writer and director Zarqa Nawaz along with WestWind Pictures, executive produced by Mary Darling and Clark Donnelly, and produced by Michael Snook and Susan Flanders-Alexander.
The characters in Little Mosque on the Prairie represent the
mosaic found in the Muslim community as well as in Canada. Through the
humour found in stereotypical situations and mutual misunderstandings,
universal human themes are brought to the forefront and serve to illustrate
the point that no community is homogeneous. The principal cast, writers
and producers are as ethnically diverse as the characters portrayed and
include individuals from five different religious backgrounds.
The popular and acclaimed Little Mosque on the Prairie began
its second season nationally October 3 on CBC Television, and its first
season will soon be airing in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Dubai, Finland
and Turkey. WestWind Pictures also is planning a travelling musical and
comedy show called Little Mosque Presents Islamapalooza, which
will tour Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and possibly Ottawa.
Regardless of who we are, where we come from, or what we call what we
believe in, the show breaks down the one-dimensional perception of a community
by encompassing storylines that are identifiable to viewers at home and
fosters a better understanding among divergent cultural groups where prejudice
and racism continue to exist. In demystifying and promoting a greater
awareness of a religion practiced by millions around the world, Little
Mosque on the Prairie reinforces the essence of our multi-cultural
Canada.
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