Congratulations to the winners of the “One Nation, Many Voices” online film contest!

23-year-old filmmaker Lena Khan won the $20,000 Grand Prize for her 5-minute music video set to Muslim country artist Kareem Salama’s song “A Land Called Paradise."

Khan is also the winner in the contest’s “60 Seconds or Less” category, and is joined by five other filmmakers whose entries won in the categories of Animation/Music, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, and Youth. Each category winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.

 A full list of the contest winners and their entries follows:

• Grand Prize: “A Land Called Paradise” by Lena Khan, 23, Alta Loma, Calif.  
• Comedy: “Muslim While Flying” by Ali Ardekani, Sherman Oaks, Calif.
• Documentary: “Healing Our Community” by Sharif Rosen, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Drama: “Glimpse” by Qasim A. Basir, New York, NY
• Animation/Music: “Arranged” by Mediha Sandhu, Bayonne, NJ
• Under 60 Seconds: “Bassem is Trying” by Lena Khan, Alta Loma, Calif.
• Youth: “The Countdown” by Rene Dongo, Boston, Mass.
  

The contest, sponsored by One Nation and LinkTV, launched last fall with a call for short films about the American Muslim experience and the commonalities we share as Americans. We received entries from more than 120 filmmakers. Thousands of online voters selected 36 finalists.

The winners were chosen by a panel of celebrity judges including NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actor Danny Glover and journalist Mariane Pearl.

To view the contest winners, visit: http://www.linktv.org/onenation/winners

Posted on February 20, 2008