VOA常速英语:不蒸馒头争口气：穆斯林女导演处女座惊艳好莱坞

One look at Movie Director and Writer Lena Han, and it’s obvious she doesn’t fit the Hollywood director stereotype. It’s very hard to be a female filmmaker in Hollywood. That is for sure. I think they feel like you don’t have as much authority, or you can’t command a set as much as they do. It does seem like they won’t give you a chance or a risk quite as much, and for the Muslim thing I think they are still trying to process that.
Khan is a child of immigrants from India. In school, she explored several career options before deciding on film-making, a choice that sparked some criticism in her South Asian community. When I was starting out, people like community South Asia, most of all they were like why are you entering such a stupid career.
She persisted fighting to get funding, to get funding for a film called Tiger Hunter. How many people actually live here? 11. Maybe 30. Released in 2017, it’s a comedy about the immigrant experience of a man from India in the US. Khan says the success of this movie surprised people in her community.
People who are South Asian or Muslim can’t seem to believe that our stories have any real value, and so the moment you start talking about “Oh, you know such and such person from this company aka white person said this is really good”, that’s when their eyebrows raised and that’s when they feel like “Oh, okay, somebody else validated this brown person’s story and thus it has something to say.
Khan says the film’s universal themes and the coincidental timing of its release helped make it a success. And the Muslim ban happened right when the movie came out, you know, and that was never intended. It’s not a good thing but it became very very relevant. Tiger Hunter launched Khans career. Khan says she will continue to navigate through Hollywood on her own terms and pursue her passion in writing and directing.
I like what I’m doing, I mean I like it. I feel like it has some value. It’s incredibly fun and then I’m also a faithful person where it’s always for me. It’s about sort of like how you went about your day and kind of what you tried and the results are up to God. Khan is now working on a TV comedy and directing a movie for Disney.
Elizabeth Lee, VOA News, Los Angeles.