When controversy broke in 2009 over plans to build an Islamic community center near the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City, Ohio University alumnus David Miles was there to document the events that unfolded.
OU’s School of Media Arts and Studies will show the product of that work at a screening of “The Ground Zero Mosque: Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks” at 7:30 p.m. today at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
A panel discussion featuring Miles and the directors is set to follow the film.
Miles worked as the director of photography for the film. He wrote to Roger Cooper, the director of the School of Media Arts and Studies, who then agreed to show the film.
“We try to show something to cap off our year,” Cooper said.
He added that the views expressed in the documentary are not the ones held by the school, and the choice to screen this particular documentary should not be taken as a political statement.
The film, codirected by Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, supports the case against building the community center in close proximity to the Ground Zero site.
Funding for the film was provided by Stop Islamization of America and the American Freedom Defense Initiative, according to the flyer.
“It does what a documentary is supposed to do,” Cooper said. “It’s supposed to open dialogue on a particular topic. I’m not saying it’s right, but it certainly is provocative.”
mh317008@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
