I had a chance to interview Mark Claywell after the last screening of his film, American Jihadist. Some context before viewing a short video of his comments:
The documentary is about Isa Abdullah Ali, an African-American man raised in Washington, DC, who came of age during the tumult of the 1960s. After coming home from service in Vietnam and facing racial injustice, he experienced a religious conversion to Islam and dedicated his life to going to wherever Muslims are under attack. He helped the Mujahadeen fight off the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and arrived in Bosnia with weapons and skills to train Muslims to defend themselves against Serb forces.
Isa Ali is not someone most viewers will like -- he is a killer, and hearing him talk about that is uncomfortable, especially when it's about his part in the civil war in Lebanon, my parents' homeland, on the side that I have always thought of as the enemy.
But if I were persecuted and powerless to defend myself and he came to help with grenades, guns and camo, I might want him on my side.
With terrorism and homeland security on everyone's mind, it is tempting to lump Isa Ali in with terrorists, but there is a difference. Ali does not target civilians. He shows up to help the Muslim civilians train to fight organized forces bearing down on them.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
"American Jihadist" at 4 today
I was able to watch only the first 15 minutes yesterday of American Jihadist, a documentary by Mark Claywell. It was enough to confirm that I wanted to make time today for the whole film.
I interviewed Claywell on opening night about the role of the documentary as journalism in a time when the journalism industry is in such a state of flux, and focused more on profits than on paying what it takes to truly investigate a subject.
A lot of this comes down to money, and money was certainly a challenge -- American Jihadist was expensive to make because of the travel involved to Afghanistan, Lebanon, Bosnia and other places. How many filmmakers have to compute kidnap insurance in their expenses? But he and his producer and writer -- Jody Jenkins, a veteran journalist now working in Paris -- are pros. They raised the money it took to cover the subject.
This is one of at least two films at this year's festival that can broaden our understanding of the motivation behind people who fight for Islam, whether it's as the subject in this film -- a self-described professional soldier of Islam who travels to where Muslims are oppressed and will fight for them -- or the terrorists of al Qaeda. The subject of The Oath, by Laura Poitras, is a former bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, now living in Yemen and struggling with questions of faith and morals.
I interviewed Claywell on opening night about the role of the documentary as journalism in a time when the journalism industry is in such a state of flux, and focused more on profits than on paying what it takes to truly investigate a subject.
A lot of this comes down to money, and money was certainly a challenge -- American Jihadist was expensive to make because of the travel involved to Afghanistan, Lebanon, Bosnia and other places. How many filmmakers have to compute kidnap insurance in their expenses? But he and his producer and writer -- Jody Jenkins, a veteran journalist now working in Paris -- are pros. They raised the money it took to cover the subject.
This is one of at least two films at this year's festival that can broaden our understanding of the motivation behind people who fight for Islam, whether it's as the subject in this film -- a self-described professional soldier of Islam who travels to where Muslims are oppressed and will fight for them -- or the terrorists of al Qaeda. The subject of The Oath, by Laura Poitras, is a former bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, now living in Yemen and struggling with questions of faith and morals.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Filmmaker Steve Yeager and film student Daisy Hart at the tent village
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
Steve's recently completed film is Crystal Fog. His Divine Trash won Best Documentary at Sundance.
"Night Catches Us" by Tanya Hamilton
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
From left, Wendell Pierce (actor), Lynn French, Tanya Hamilton (director), Paul Coates and Marc Steiner
I had to sit on the floor.
But it was worth it. Standing room only doesn't exactly describe how full the house was for Tanya Hamilton's film Night Catches Us, with Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie and Wendell Pierce. People were sitting on all the stairs up and down both aisles of the theater. I was sitting on the floor near the front. It actually was not a bad view at all, and I had a wall to lean on.
Before the film started, festival director Jed Dietz told the audience there would be another showing tomorrow, but no one wanted to leave. More on this film later when I have time, but I highly recommend going to see it tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. at Brown Center on the MICA campus. There will be a shuttle from the Charles Theatre to Brown.
I suggest buying tickets today and getting in line early tomorrow, for obvious reasons.
Before the film started, festival director Jed Dietz told the audience there would be another showing tomorrow, but no one wanted to leave. More on this film later when I have time, but I highly recommend going to see it tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. at Brown Center on the MICA campus. There will be a shuttle from the Charles Theatre to Brown.
I suggest buying tickets today and getting in line early tomorrow, for obvious reasons.
Standing room only for Night Catches Us
Above, Marc Steiner led the Q and A after the film.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
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