Using a local film festival to empower Muslim artists internationally
Age: 34
Job Title: Co-chair of Mosquers Film Festival and Project Manager of Reach Edmonton Council for Safe Communities
Sofia Alani has spent much of her life witnessing the impact that happens when Muslims are misrepresented — or not represented at all.
She was 10 years old when the World Trade Center attacks set in motion a wave of Islamophobic hate crimes, policies and wars that the world is still dealing with today. On screen and in the news, Muslims were frequently depicted as terrorists — a narrow image that reshaped how the world saw Alani’s community, and how young Muslims like her saw themselves. “Suddenly (being Muslim) meant something different,” she recalls. And the absence of authentic representation mattered as much as the stereotypes, leaving young Muslims like Alani with few characters who looked like her — and even fewer whose stories rang true.
Alani is now flipping that script as co-chair of the annual Mosquers Film Festival, which counters stereotypes by reflecting Muslim life on screen. Since taking on its strategic vision in 2020, Alani has helped transform the festival from a one-night showcase of short films into a venerated four-day celebration. Today it runs workshops, networking events and an incubator program, drawing hundreds of Muslim artists from around the world to Edmonton.
Outside of film, Alani works as a project manager with the non-profit Reach Edmonton Council for Safe Communities, where she fosters collaborations with people who have lived experience with addiction and supports crime-prevention efforts. For her, the link between this frontline work and film is clear: both are about shifting the narrative. Storytelling can change how we see each other, she says, and that’s a step toward bridging out divides. “It can put you in somebody else’s story without too much resistance because you’re also being entertained.” It’s that balance, she says, that makes film such a powerful tool.
This article appears in the November/December 2025 issue of Edify
