Film “The Feeling of Being Watched” on Mass FBI Surveillance of Muslims in Bridgeview, Illinois

The Feeling of Being Watched_Primary Still
movie still Courtesy / Courtesy of The Feeling of Being Watched
The Feeling of Being Watched_Primary Still
movie still Courtesy / Courtesy of The Feeling of Being Watched

Film “The Feeling of Being Watched” on Mass FBI Surveillance of Muslims in Bridgeview, Illinois

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Bridgeview, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, is home to a substantial Muslim population. For decades, an open secret amongst Bridgeview Muslims was that they were under constant surveillance by the U.S. government. Once thought only a rumor, international journalist, filmmaker, and former Worldview intern, Assia Boundaoui, found the proof, which she documents in her award-winning documentary “The Feeling of Being Watched.” Boundaoui also grew up in Bridgeview. After years abroad, she returned home and turned up evidence that her community was the subject of a massive FBI counterterrorism probe code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal.” As a result of Boundaoui filing a FOIA action against the FBI, last year, a federal judge ordered the U.S. government to turn over more than 30,000 pages of documents related to Operation Vulgar Betrayal. We’ll talk with Boundaoui about her arduous, and sometimes dangerous, odyssey for the truth.

“The Feeling of Being Watched”, a hit at the 2018 Tribeca film festival, is screening at the Chicago International Film Festival, Thursday and Friday, October 18-19 at AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois, St.