“We all have a vessel inside of us for prejudice. And I was taught to speak out when I see injustice. The key to peace is justice, and we see these images as a direct barrier to peace. If viewers recognize the politics behind these images, they won’t be fooled so easily.”
Valentino’s Ghost
This multi-award-winning documentary, hailed by The New York Times and The Village Voice, exposes a century of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry perpetuated by Anti-Israel writers, directors, actors and producers in Hollywood. Controversial and fearless, the film’s explosive accusations and superb journalism led a Sundance judge to call it “by far the best film this year.”
Witness why Valentino’s Ghost earned a standing ovation at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. Watch the film for free and see how Hollywood’s factory of cinematic hatred is laid bare.
Why do supremely talented artists and intellectuals in America consider it perfectly “realistic” to depict Arabs and Muslims in a fashion that would be described as bigoted, if applied to blacks, Jews, gays, Native Americans, et al?
The 100-minute film features fresh, riveting and often stunning perspectives from the legendary late American writer Gore Vidal; John Mearsheimer, author of “The Israel Lobby”,celebrated British war correspondent Robert Fisk, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anthony Shadid, Harvard and Oxford historian Niall Ferguson, historian Melani McAlister, TV star Tony Shalhoub, media expert Jack Shaheen, and Hollywood writer Alan Sharp,
They take viewers into wild, uncharted waters, analyzing Hollywood as a hotbed of ethnic bigotry and an obedient servant of Washington; the Charlie Hebdo cartoons as hate speech; Israel’s deadly invasion of Gaza in 2014 as a war crime; ISIS as less brutal than The American Armed Forces; and American Sniper as foremost a vehicle of ethnic hatred towards Arabs and Muslims.
Biting social commentary by comics Maz Jobrani, Aron Kader and Ahmed Ahmed ensure that the documentary maintains a constant flow of astonishing and eye-opening revelations.
“Thrilling.”
Ernest Hardy, The Village Voice
“Engrossing.”
Andy Webster, The New York Times
Riding the Tiger:
A Story of Survival and Identity
Michael Singh, son of a Punjabi villager and a Connecticut debutante.
“Part Werner Herzog, part Oliver Stone...astounding and riveting.”
— Reviewer, CPB affiliate
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How does a 2024 assassination in Canada connect to a 40-year-old massacre in India?
Riding the Tiger is a firsthand account of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre in New Delhi, where my friends and I (Michael Singh) saved 23 Sikh women and children. As the only eyewitness film I know of on this tragedy, it plunges viewers into a gripping story of survival, courage, and identity.
A Hindu God; what does He reveal about faith in times of crisis?
The film follows my journey returning to India, the land of my privileged childhood. What began as a nostalgic adventure spiraled into a nightmare of violence following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Despite my Sikh name and my father’s Sikh heritage, I survived because I passed for white—a reality that shattered my biracial identity.
At the heart of the story is my friend, the Anglican Bishop of Delhi, Maqbul Caleb, who unarmed, held off a mob of killers. His daughter Leila, a nurse-in-training, calmed the terrified women we hid, while challenging my “Hollywood view of India.”
With Michael’s rare 16mm footage plus his live audio of the massacre, Riding the Tiger explores survival, privilege, and faith.
An ancient Hindu ritual presaging the massacre; catharsis or chaos?
About Michael Singh
Michael Singh grew up in the Punjab and in the Himalayas, where he attended Woodstock School. He studied Indian history at The University of Chicago and filmmaking at USC’s Division of Cinema-TV in Los Angeles.
His career has spanned multiple creative fields. He once wrote billboard copy for 20th Century Fox’s big-budget movies and played Mr. Patel in the hit stage production of Comedians at Chicago’s Wisdom Bridge Theatre.
Now based in Princeton, MA, Michael is an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker. His latest feature-length film, Valentino’s Ghost: Why We Hate Arabs and Muslims, premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation, was designated a New York Times Critics’ Pick, and has been called "the decade’s most important film" (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs). The film has aired in over 100 countries.
Valentino’s Ghost was banned by PBS and Sundance due to its uncompromising exposé of Islamophobia in Hollywood.
Michael has written, produced, and directed multiple award-winning films centered on Sikh history and identity, including Prisoner’s Song, Rebel Queen, The Visionary, and Uncommon Ground.
His television work includes serving as Senior Producer/Writer for Discovery’s Chicago’s Lifeline, where his episodes won two national awards for Best Science Series. He is also co-writer of the romantic comedy feature film Good Sharma, starring Joan Allen and Billy Connolly.
Michael is currently seeking completion funds for Riding the Tiger, a 93-minute rough cut documentary that offers a firsthand account of the 1984 Sikh massacres. The film features one-of-a-kind archival recordings captured at great personal risk.
A bi-racial, bi-cultural, tri-lingual storyteller, Michael is driven by a passion for revealing hidden truths, smashing taboos, and crafting stories that, in the words of Finley Peter Dunne, “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
Director Michael Singh on set