About the Film
◆◆
Ojalá Supieras
(I Wish You Knew)
In the shadows of colonial archives, a forgotten faith whispers across centuries. Ojalá Supieras (I Wish You Knew) unearths the silenced history of Islam in colonial Mexico. It is a story of forbidden belief, suppressed identity, and survival through secrecy.
This visually immersive documentary blends dramatizations of Inquisition trials, archival documents brought to life, and expert reflections that connect past and present. Figures like Pedro Lorenzo and María Ruiz are accused of practicing Islam in secret, revealing how religion, identity, and resistance intertwined under empire.
Through reenactments of silenced voices in the archives, the film reframes Mexico as a crossroads where Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Indigenous peoples all shaped the nation’s foundation.
This is not only a film — it is an act of reclamation.
◆◆
World Premiere of Ojalá Supieras
Panelists at the world premiere of “Ojala Supieras” (“I Wish You Knew”) in Mexico City’s Museum of El Carmen. From left: Alejandra Gómez Colorado, Maria Amparo Clausell Arroyo, Dr. Mariam Saada, León Rodriguez Zahar, and Miguel Angel Marquez. Photo courtesy of Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo
Premiere of “Ojalá Supieras”, a documentary that recovers the Islamic roots of Hispanic and Hispanic American culture
As part of SEMONA 2025 (Middle East and North Africa Week in Mexico)
MEXICO CITY, Mexico – November 25, 2025 – Museo Nacional de las Culturas del Mundo (Source: Facebook)
The documentary “Ojalá Supieras” (“I Wish You Knew”, United States, 2025) that gives account of the search for evidence of the Islamic presence in New Spain, directed by Dr. Mariam Saada, was premiered on Saturday 15 November at the Museum of El Carmen, in collaboration with the #MNCM, within the Middle East and North Africa Week (SEMONA 2025).
To open the event, Maria Amparo Clausell Arroyo, director of Museo de El Carmen and Alejandra Gómez Colorado, director of the MNCM, highlighted the value of this occasion to strengthen ties of friendship and collaboration between the museums of INAH, with a theme that finds relationships with both areas.
About the documentary, Gomez Colorado indicated: “Rescue the silenced history of Islam in the western Mexico, gives voice to men and women accused and persecuted for their faith.” It is an act of historic recovery that reconfigures the national narrative, revealing how Muslims, Jews, Christians and indigenous jointly contributed to the foundations of the country.”
The comments of Mariam Saada, director, producer and researcher of the documentary, were to recognize the support for the making of the documentary to Daniela Mendez Cano, research assistant; Martha Leticia Martinez de León, editor; Alejandra Gomez Colorado, collaborator, and Camila Pastor, coordinator of the SEMONA.
In his turn, Miguel Angel Marquez, screenwriter, director of photography and editor of the documentary, spoke about the hard work of condensing Saada's so deep research into an audiovisual of one hour. He emphasized that these types of materials are mainly an opportunity to learn, both performers and audience, in this case, about a fragment of our history and cultural roots.
After the screening of the premiere of the documentary, León Rodriguez Zahar, specialist in Middle East studies by El Colegio de Mexico and collaborator of the project, spoke about the valuable work of Saada in recovering the Islamic roots of Hispanic and Hispanic American culture, a part of our identity that is still denied and surrounded by prejudice.
Indicated that this research adds to answering what happened to the Moorish population (Muslims converted to Christianity) after the fall of Al-Andalus and the expulsion decrees of 1609 and 1614, after which it is estimated that about 300 thousand crypto-Muslims (who practiced in Spain) left Spain Secret Islam), of which a group could enter New Spain, and leave some very veiled traces that Saada has managed to find.
To accompany the projection, the Mexican artist Elo Vit, author and performer of “Ojalá”, the theme composed for the documentary, delighted the audience with the song.
◆◆
