Soțul Meu Musulman/My Muslim Husband, the Romanian documentary co-created by Daniel Bărnuți and Alexandra Bărnuți, is now available to stream on HBO Max. 

Shot in Romania, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, the documentary follows the story of Alexandra, who decides to marry Daniel, a young man converted to Islam. 

Alexandra believes that being open to learning about a different culture will allow her new family to find happiness and harmony. But the young couple will have to face not only society's religious discrimination but also other prejudices. Alexandra and Daniel must fight for each other and their relationship, even if it means leaving their old selves behind or cutting certain people out of their lives.

"When I met Daniel, this film he was already working on came with the relationship. I was happy for him for doing this. But I didn't realize that his original idea would change and that we'd become the main subject. Before long, the camera shifted towards us, and during the six years we shot, it simply became a decorative item in the house. I didn't even know when it was on," Alexandra Bărnuți said.

"And with that came a new challenge: many hours of footage, from which we had to make a selection. Every moment filmed, every argument sparked another. Because we were looking at ourselves and starting the same discussions from scratch, we had to learn to detach from our story and look at it as objectively as we could. It's been a real adventure, and we're glad we can now tell our story as it is, with the good and the bad," she added.

In his turn, Daniel Bărnuți stated: "In the first six years of our relationship, while I also filmed the documentary, everything was like a process of continuous learning. We were getting to know each other and learning how to relate to each other, to families, to religion, to passions, to preferences, to prejudices. We hit many obstacles, but most importantly, we always found our way back to each other. That's what held us together. This is what keeps us together. I hope this documentary can open a bridge of discussion on various topics, from relationships to cultures and beliefs."

My Muslim Husband, a Max Original documentary, can be streamed starting October 27. It was produced in 2023 by Two Doc, HBO Max and Avanpost, and Daniel and Alexandra Bărnuti are co-producers.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Warner Bros. Discovery)