Synopsis
In December 2015, the political rhetoric against Muslims was escalating. Dr. Larycia Hawkins, an African- American political science professor at Wheaton College—a prestigious evangelical school outside of Chicago—wanted to show support for Muslim women. She posted a photo of herself in a hijab on Facebook. “I love my Muslim neighbor,” she wrote, “because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity…we worship the Same God.” Within days, Wheaton’s Provost suspended Dr. Hawkins, eventually moving to terminate her tenure. Were the school’s actions a move to protect its Christian theological purity, as it insisted? Or was it, as some suggested, the result of racism and Islamophobia? Same God, directed by Wheaton alumna Linda Midgett, explores the polarization-taking place within the evangelical community over issues of race, Islam, religious freedom…and Donald Trump.
Filmmaker Biography
Linda Midgett is a two-time Emmy-award winning writer, producer and documentary filmmaker with more than 25 years of experience. She has been a showrunner for more than 600 hours of TV for networks such as the History Channel, Discovery, A&E, NBC, and PBS. Linda began her career at CNN International as a writer/producer. She helped create The Weather Channel’s longest-running series, Storm Stories, and showran hits like History Channel’s documentary series Gangland and NBC’s Emmy-award winning reality series Starting Over. Linda has been commissioned to direct several documentaries, including The Line, a film that breaks down stereotypes about poverty; The Stranger, which looks at immigration reform through the lens of faith; and The Greek-Americans of Charlotte, a PBS documentary that won a regional cultural Emmy. Same God is Linda’s first feature-length, independent documentary. Linda lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with her husband John and two children.
Schedule
- East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Monday 9/16/2019
- Clayton Center for the Arts, Maryville, TN. Tuesday 9/17/2019
- Oxford College of Emory University, Oxford, GA. Wednesday 9/18/2019
- Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC. Thursday 9/19/2019
- Global Education Center, Nashville, TN. Saturday 9/21/2019
- Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA. Monday 9/23/2019