Nusrat Durrani’s 2020 directorial 2020, “An American Prayer” is an interrogation of the American Dream and reveals clashing realities and stunning disparities. As Vincent Harding asked, then, the documentary asks now: Is America possible? Hundreds of seething tales of conflict, transcendence, and exhilaration in the enticing but bewildering USA are never seen on T.V. The AAP stories reflect a nation wrestling with the project of democracy while the world watches with bated breath. Always, we have wondered if the American Dream is real. And we have always speculated on its death. Its glittering image in the world has diminished in recent years, but most Americans are still trying to hold on to the American Dream’s ideals. As Langston Hughes put forth: “The land that never has been yet.” 

The film’s eclectic cast includes a young Pakistani-American woman who overcame Islamophobia and bipolar disorder to become a poet of repute; an Air Force RF/SATCOM technician who served in Afghanistan haunted by the civilians killed in drone strikes he guided; and a Black man who was shot and disabled from the waist down at 17 but transcended tragedy to become a Paralympics powerlifter.

“An American Prayer,” was shot in 2020 during the first Trump Presidency. Five years later, as he begins a second term, its themes assume an even greater urgency. It premiered at the prestigious Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn and has been screened at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and others around the world. 

“An American Prayer,” is currently streaming on Apple TV, Prime Video, MUBI and other platforms. 

DIRECTOR
Nusrat Durrani

PRODUCER
Catherine Ignatenko

STORY PRODUCER
Paula J Gilovich

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Nusrat Durrani

CAST
Adeeba Shahid Talukder
Lexie Robinson
Trammy Ahn
Simon Moya-Smith
Garrison Redd
Cian Westmoreland
Rowan Kilkenny
Liam Kilkenny
Nusrat Durrani


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