Qasim Basir grew up in a world filled with prejudice. A world where Muslims were victimised and negatively portrayed. The tragic events on September 11, 2001 didn’t exactly help matters either.
“All I ever see in the media or all I have ever seen in the media was this negative portrayal of Muslims in America and around the world,” Basir says to IF during a visit to Australia late last year.
“I’ve been around Muslims my whole life – and I’ve never seen the version the media puts out there. It’s not to say that all Muslim people are great because that’s not the case – there are people out there doing some horrible things but it’s a very, very small minority.
“And so I just wanted to put a story out there that showed a more human version of the people – show something more accurate.”
To tackle such a subject, firstly the Muslim filmmaker completed a short film, Glimpse, which went on to win the 2007 Link TV One Nation Contest Best Drama category – but importantly it went on to gain the attention of Hollywood actor Danny Glover. Glover was a judge on the short film competition and was instantly attracted to the director’s vision.
Glover’s production company, Louverture Films, is dedicated to help develop or produce such films – projects of “historical relevance, social purpose, commercial value and artistic integrity”.
Although the company didn’t produce or finance Basir’s follow-up – feature film Mooz-Lum which is based on Glimpse – Glover offered his acting skills, seen in such Hollywood flicks as the Lethal Weapon franchise and more recently, Saw. In Mooz-Lum he plays a school college dean.
“We had one long conversation about his character – and he instantly knew what to do. I learned a lot on the set,” Michigan-born, New York City-based, Basir says.
“It was interesting on that shoot because we had everyone from Danny Glover, who’s done probably over 100 movies, to people who were on their first movie.”
Basir started writing the partly-autobiographical screenplay in early-2007, indicating it was hard to “reach back and deal with certain things” from his past.
The film itself – shot on the Red One in Michigan for 25 days at the end of 2009 – follows youngster Tariq Mahdi who is pulled between his strict Muslim upbringing by his father and the normal social life he’s never had.
He enters college in a state of confusion. New relationships with Muslims and non-Muslims alike challenge his already shaken ideals, and the estrangement with his mother and sister troubles him. Slowly, he begins to find himself with the help of new friends, family and mentors, but when the attacks of 9/11 happen without warning, he is forced to face his past and make the biggest decisions of his life.
“It’s not something that the studios are used to; it’s not something that is the most favourable in the eyes of the industry,” Basir states.
The film’s lead – Evan Ross – is Diana Ross’ son. Nia Long, Roger Guenveur Smith and Summer Bishil also make up some of the cast.
In Australia, the 99-minute film was shown at a packed special Hoyts screening late last year by Rising Pictures in Sydney’s west. Rising Pictures has just received the classification certificate and the DVD is expected to be released in March.
The film’s director is currently touring the US, doing Q+A screenings at various schools. The heartwarming, yet confrontational drama missed out last weekend on netting the Outstanding Independent Motion Picture award at the NAACP Image Awards, losing to Pariah, which made its world premiere at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Basir is currently working on a new feature film entitled Destined, which he plans on shooting in April. He describes it as a mix between Sliding Doors (starring Gwyneth Paltrow) and Boyz n The Hood.
To view Mooz-Lum’s Facebook page click here and for its Australian Facebook page, click here.
Qasim Basir at the Australian premiere of Mooz-Lum