Habibi director Susan Youssef crowdfunds for next feature

Director Susan Youssef at a round-table to discuss new projects in development during the inaugural edition of Qumra, a new industry event by the Doha Film Institute dedicated to the development of emShow more

Habibi director Susan Yousseff has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund her new feature, Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf, with the support of the Sundance Film Festival. Sundance is hosting the campaign on its curated Kickstarter page after the short version of the film attracted significant attention at this year's festival.

The movie is a coming of age drama about a young Muslim girl in Little Rock, Arakansas, who seeks her identity through her headscarf and a motorcycle following her father’s imprisonment on dubious terrorist charges. The choice of location is no accident, as Little Rock was home to the 1957 Little Rock Crisis, when nine African-American students where denied access to the local high school on racial grounds on the orders of the state governor.

Youssef claims to draw inspiration for the film from both the location's highly charged racist past, and classic coming of age films such as James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause. Habibi star Maisi Abd Elhadi once again leads the cast.

Youssef already has funding from Doha Film Institute, Jerome Foundation, Emerging Visions (IFP & Film Society of Lincoln Center), New York State Council on the Arts, The Standby Program, and Southwestern Entertainment Production Practicum. She now hates to raise the further $100K needed to put the film into production through the crowdfunding site.

• At the time of writing, the campaign had successfully raised just over $27k, with 28 days of fund-raising remaining. To donate, and receive exclusive gifts including handmade headscarves inspired by the film, visit http://kck.st/1IJUCVF