..the WORLD premiere at Harvard!

It's set in stone! We have a world premiere coming up of our documentary AN ISLAMIC CONSCIENCE: the Aga Khan and the Ismailis!!! At the invite of Harvard, we have accepted to do the launch there. And they just sent out a mass email announcing the event!

Date: Monday, December 3, 2007

Time: 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM

Co-Sponsor:

Harvard Divinity School, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, and the Kennedy School Muslim Caucus

Location:

JFK Jr. Forum, Kennedy School of Government

An Islamic Conscience: The Aga Khan and the Ismailis

JFK Jr. Forum, Kennedy School of Government

To be followed by a Panel Discussion on the themes of religious tolerance, pluralism, and positive social change with:

Jocelyne Cesari , Director of the Islam in the West Program (Center for Middle Eastern Studies)

Firas Ahmad : Deputy Editor of Islamica Magazine (KSG '05)

Ali Asani : Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Culture (Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations)

Bill Cran : Emmy Award-Winning Director

Shamir Allibhai : Filmmaker and Producer (HDS '09)

This event is cosponsored by the Divinity School, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, the Islam in the West Program, and the Kennedy School Muslim Caucus. For more information about the film, please go to www.agakhanfilm.org. For more information about the event, please contact Kamron Mitchell ( Kamron_Mitchell@harvard.edu).

The Background

So this is my first blog post!

And I am about to complete my first feature documentary! The topic chosen was not the easiest for a first feature but I believed it is a subject that absolutely needed to be told on film.

In grade 10 (ages ago it feels like now!) in one of my first media/film classes, I wondered why no one had ever done a film on the Aga Khan and the Ismailis. Partly curious about my own disposition, partly wanting a way to show my friends who we are and who is our spiritual leader in an engaging way, I got interested in this idea. After graduating from university and working for and with organizations such as the BBC and co-founding the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation, I decided the time was right to pursue the film idea. I started working on realizing this aspiration full time in March 2006 and from a team of one to now working with fantastic people (actually fantastic friends is more appropriate), the idea is now a reality.

There have been MANY bumps in the road thus far (like all films!) and I am sure there will be a few more to go but I can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel! I hope this blog captures our filmmaking journey in some way. Bigger than that, I hope the film and the story of the Aga Khan, points to ways to solve the bigger challenges facing Islam today.

More to come....