THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO MADE 2008 A YEAR TO REMEMBER (OUT.COM)

FILMMAKERS

PARVEZ SHARMA& TOM KALIN

A Jihad for Love is the heartfelt debut film from Muslim Indian-born director Parvez Sharma (far left), tackling a subject never previously addressed in a feature documentary: the complex intersection of homosexuality and Islam. Traveling to 12 countries—including India, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa, and Turkey—writer and gay rights activist Sharma’s dispatches from the very edges of Islam portrayed and sought to change the plight of gay Muslims.

Swoon, Tom Kalin’s award-winning 1992 debut feature, was a tough pill for many to swallow due to its frank portrayal of murder and sexuality. No stranger to controversy (he was a member of the early AIDS activist organizations ACT UP and Gran Fury), Kalin (right), in his long-awaited second feature, tackled the shocking, incestuous, and fatal relationship between socialite Barbara Baekeland and her son Tony in Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne.