CAAMFest 2024: 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime

Director Tarek Albaba in person!

In 2015, three Muslim American students were eating dinner in their home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, when Craig Hicks took their lives. The film charts the victims’ families’ agonizing overnight pivot from trauma to advocacy as they struggle together to prevent the deaths of their loved ones from being dismissed as the result of an alleged parking dispute. In 36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime, filmmaker Tarek Albaba makes an impassioned case for justice. They courageously speak the truth about the incident that has impacted their lives, how racism plays out in our society and the call to reform a legal system that is broken. From their story, we will witness the grace and the will to fight for justice amid devastating circumstances.