Openly gay Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma has produced a new documentary, Sinner in Mecca, which follows his pilgrimage into the heart of Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality can be punishable by death. Sharma calls the film "a direct challenge to Saudi Arabia and its corrupt monarchy."

Sinner's website describes the "challenges" Sharma faced in making the film:

For a gay filmmaker, filming in Saudi Arabia presents two serious challenges: filming is forbidden in the country and homosexuality is punishable by death. For filmmaker Parvez Sharma, however, these were risks he had to assume as he embarked on his Hajj pilgrimage, a journey considered the greatest accomplishment and aspiration within Islam, his religion. He brings back the story of the religion like it has never been told before, having endured the biggest Jihad there is: the struggle with the self. 

Sharma posted the trailer for the film on YouTube on March 17. In a note posted below the synopsis, Sharma announces the world premiere of the film at  #HotDocs and states that the film is intended to be "a direct challenge to Saudi Arabia and its corrupt monarchy."

The handful of responses to the trailer on YouTube are mostly hostile, with multiple posts charging Sharma with spreading lies about Islam and Sharia law:

SADDIARY - Well, this is full of shallow lies that the west tends to enjoy. You have to be caught in an act of homosexuality, with witnesses around, to be punishable, and death penalty is only considered if some hard conditions are met (someone witnessed actual penetration, confession). So you never see someone punished by death for this, unless it is rape. People are punished by other means for a set time for other acts. For you, had you confessed of being gay, you will be just deported, so it was funny seeing 

JOSEPH - why you try to destroy the image of Islam? you showed many different scenes that are not in Saudi Arabia. Begin filmmaker, you have to be honest and you gotta tell the truth. You mixed a lot of things together trying to create a charming story filled of lies. You're following the same path the most of western media take.

Homosexuality is prohibited in Islam, you gotta understand that, we ask Allah to led you to the truth path. 

IRON ZARIE - If you were a real Muslim you would understand that Islam and gayness are far from each other.

I think you are just trying to grape the media attention.

Sinner is the third documentary Sharma has helped produce. Sharma was the director, writer, and cinematographer for A Jihad for Love (2007), a documentary on gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims. He served as a producer for Tying the Knot (2004), which addressed same-sex marriage in America. Sharma has also been a contributing writer for the Huffington Post, his last piece published in 2011.