THE DREAM
ABOUT THE FILM
THE BACKSTORY
Aya is a 12-year-old Muslim American girl who gets bullied at school by mean kids. Following the advice of her English teacher, Aya decides to record her experiences and personal thoughts in a journal. Her words and frustrations are a compilation of more than a dozen true stories by Muslim kids who face prejudice and discrimination in American schools today.
“My dad says words are the most common weapon.”
What does a little girl feel when her mom is called “a piece of shit” on their way to the corner market? How does she feel about her dad being asked, “Where is your bomb?” Or when the kids at school start calling her “Isis”?
MEET AYA
Aya was only two when her family fled war and moved to America. Her grandmother often talks about the fig tree back home. And everything else they had to leave behind. Aya records her grandmother's memories in a diary, along with the cruel things people say to her mom and dad because they're Muslim.
Art by Perry Wilson
