Donald Trump, DJ Khaled, The CIA and politicians are some of the main subjects of the satirical videos that can be seen through Peace House’s Facebook page, and one of the creators is a USF Alum.
Ahmad Hussam, who graduated in 2014 with a mass communications bachelor’s from the University of South Florida, went on to focus on such videos.
Hussam is the co-founder, producer, and director at Peace House, a utopian studio that produces videos that combine social justice with visual arts. The office is located in Tampa.
Hussam and his friend, Nicholas Armero, work side by side on the productions, and can be seen together as they video their sketches. They work side-by-side as friends and brothers
While at USF, Hussam was the president of Students for Justice (SJP)-USF, where he led the historic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign that gathered over 10,000 signatures. This campaign became the largest petition in Florida’s higher education history.
Hussam produced the action series “Salahadin,” where he also was the lead role. “Salahadin” was the focus of the social media campaign #NetflixListen, where the hopes were that Netflix would offer to be the producer of “Salahadin.” If would have Nextflix agreed, it would’ve been the first time a Muslim-focused series would be signed on by an American company.
“Salahadin” is a series about the life the Salahadin Ayoubi, the 12th century Muslim leader that negotiated a truce with Richard I (the Lionheart), which would give back the control of Jerusalem, during the third Crusades.
#NetflixListen received an enormous amount of attention that would catch the action of high-profile executives and producers in Hollywood.
“We basically tell untold stories with the intention of positive change, and so we do a range of videos, some are entertaining, comical, satirical, to raise awareness about issues about Islamophobia. Direct informational videos, such as documentaries, about the Syrian refugee crisis, about the suppression of the Palestinian activists. We do spoken word, so we can raise awareness,” Hussam said from his studio.
Hussam also started a crowdfunding account for the daycare at the local mosque, which burned down in April of 2015. The account garnered money from all over the world to assist in rebuilding the daycare.
Hussam produced a video of “Muslims read hate comments,” in response to the hate comments that were left on Peace House’s Facebook page.
This particular video involved local Muslims reading the hate comments and their reactions. There was plenty of laughter as the men and women learned of new derogatory terms for Muslims.
Hussam comes up with different ideas and then lays out a plan to bring them to life.
While satirical videos are Hussam’s favorite, he also leans towards spoken word.
There are numerous videos available on their Facebook and YouTube pages. Hussam hopes that he will have the opportunity to expand on his ideas.
“Drop Books Not Bombs” was another project Hussam founded that collected books for Syrian refugees in Turkey.
“We flew to Turkey at the Syrian border—we did not enter Syria—to visit a school for Syrian refugees that needed expansion and support,” Hussam said. The art event was open to the public. For every person that attended that event, a $100 donation by a non-profit organization was given to different charities, totaling $25,000.
