Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 11: Nairobi

(written on the day, posted after)

Another early morning flight but this time without any hiccups! I was on the flight with three friends who I had gone to undergrad with, two of them now teachers at the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa and are Golden Jubilee Games bound.

Karim Manji, who organized the Nairobi screening, explaining to the cinema manager the last minute details

Nairobi Premiere - June 22

The last screening happened and sadly the Africa tour has come to an end. Over two years ago when I started the film, I never would have suspected we would be having "Africa Premieres". The outpouring of support has been touching and motivating, and I am grateful to the audiences and all those who were instrumental in organizing!

Where next?

Last Screening Tonight

Just landed in Nairobi and it has started to sink in that this is the last screening of our East Africa Tour... Feeling slightly sad.

It has been a blitz trip but it has been touching how it has all come together with the local support. It is also nice that we are ending in Nairobi just before the Golden Jubilee Games. There is buzz in the air! My morning's flight Mombasa to Nairobi had many people who were traveling for the event. Its all very exciting!

Updates soon...

Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 10: Mombasa

(written on the day, posted after)






KENYA PREMIERE: Mombasa Screening, June 21st

I nearly didn't make it to the Mombasa screening. The Kenya Airways Kampala to Nairobi flight was at 5am and when I got to the counter at 4am, they told me that the travel agent had actually booked my ticket as standby rather than confirmed. Discussion and debate proved fruitless as the lady at the counter said that the flight was completely booked and that there are others ahead of me in the 'standby' queue waiting to squeeze on as well.

In the midst of the drama, coupled by not having slept after the Kampala screening, I found out that there is an Air Uganda flight that would go to Nairobi at 7am. I anxiously waited for Air Uganda’s reservation office to open to see if there were seats available. Luckily there was and I made to Nairobi where I then had to find a new connecting flight to Mombasa as I had missed my original one because of the delay. I had to take what I could get at this point and I found a propeller plane which I boarded and left on.

I didn’t really know what to expect at the Mombasa screening. People had told me Mombasa residents are laissez faire. They may commit but not many will show. The cinema was packed! Almost all of the 375 seats in the cinema were taken up and it was filled with a diverse crowd in terms of age and religious backgrounds. The most touching moment – and there were many at this screening - was when a lady came up to me after the screening with tears in her eyes and she said, I am Gujarati but not an Ismaili. You are so lucky to have a Hazar Imam.

Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 9: Kampala

(written on the day, posted after)

Uganda Premiere - June 20th

A note from the screening:
Before the screening I was chatting to some people and a lady came up to me saying she works with the Aga Khan Education Services. She said that there was a group of non-Muslim Canadians that had come to Kampala earlier this year. Three of them had seen our Aga Khan film that was broadcast on Canadian television channel, VisionTV, and were so moved, they decided they would allocate the sizeable amount of donation money they had set aside for Africa causes to the Aga Khan Development Network. (I wondered to myself if the film team should get a commission :) )

Naturally, this was never our objective but ...its nice to know films can really inspire people into action and its not just filmmaker idealism with their heads in the clouds!

Interview w/ NTV

Introduction by Azim Tharani of Kampala

Two more screenings to go: Mombasa and Nairobi....

NationTV Coverage - Kampala - June 20, 2008

I got a preview copy of the news report that Barbara Angopa did earlier today on the Aga Khan Film which goes out on NationTV very soon. P.S. Barbara has been nominated for the 2008 CNN African Journalist of the Year Award (she finds out soon if she has won!)

A tidbit: the Aga Khan was involved in the founding of Nation Media which NationTV is part of.

Aga Khan Film, Guardian Newspaper, June 19th, 2008

Netherlands Ambassador to Tanzania Karel Van Kesteren (C) in discussion with Representative of the Aga Khan to Tanzania, Amin Kurji (R) and Director of Avicenna Tanzania, a not-for-profit organisation promoting cultural diversity and pluralism in the country, Altaf Hirani. This was during a launch of a film called 'An Islamic Conscience: the Aga Khan and the Ismailis' in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday. The film was produced by Shamir Allibhai who lives in the US.

Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 8: Kampala

Next leg of the trip: Uganda, once home for my father and my paternal grandparents... I also get to meet again all those whom I interviewed for the film when I was here last year. I wonder how they will feel about their interview piece and the film overall. Also is the Idi Amin story sensitive here? Or are Ugandans absolutely bored of it after all these years?

It seems we will have a full house for tomorrow's screening... updates soon...

Africa Launch - Avicenna's Opening Remarks

More photos from the Premiere at the Kempinski Hotel, Dar es Salaam, June 17:

There was actually a third big screen too to cover the entire venue.

Alkarim (left), a director of Avicenna and the moderator for the Q+A

COMMENTS BY JANET SIDDALL, HIGH COMMISSIONER OF CANADA:
AN EXCELLENT FILM THAT UNDERLINES THAT HIS HIGHNESS AND OUR PRIME MINISTER WERE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS, SHARED VALUES AND HAD A COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY

No, Alkarim did not change his suit midway through the screening: this is his twin brother and partner in Avicenna, Altaf Hirani, seen here giving the opening remarks pre-screening.

Altaf's thoughtful speech:
(copied and pasted as received)

Opening Address

by

Altaf Hirani
Director of AVICENNA TANZANIA,

at the

Africa Launch of the film

AN ISLAMIC CONSCIENCE: The Aga Khan & the Ismailis,



Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel, June 17, 2008

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Honourable Ministers,
Your Excellencies,
Religious & Community Leaders;
Distinguished Guests;
Shamir Allibhai
Ladies and Gentlemen


On behalf of AVICENNA TANZANIA, it is indeed a great honour for me to welcome you all to the Africa launch of the film: AN ISLAMIC CONSCIENCE: The Aga Khan & the Ismailis.

I am equally pleased to welcome Shamir Allibhai - the Producer of the Film, who has kindly joined us this evening all the way from Boston, USA.

I am also happy to inform you that there will be a public screening of this film at the New World Cinemas tomorrow June 18, 2008 at 4.30 p.m.


AVICENNA TANZANIA is a not-for-profit organization founded early this year with the aim of promoting cultural diversity and pluralism in order to foster harmony, understanding, tolerance and peace between various peoples and groups in Tanzania. The organization also supports the development of civil societies and various charitable initiatives to alleviate poverty.
AVICENNA was inspired by the Muslim ethic of inclusiveness which stipulates an inclusive vision of society. This ethic further guides all Muslims in the sense that the divine spark that bestows individuality also bonds individuals in a common humanity.

The Holy Quran says “Humankind has been created from a single soul, as male and female, communities and nations, so that people may know one another”. It invites people of all faiths to a common platform, to vie for goodness. The holy Prophet sought to harness individual and group diversity and talents to serve common needs of different religious groups, among whom he encouraged a spirit of harmony and tolerance as constituents of a larger community of his time.

In the spirit of promoting interfaith dialogue, we can look back at some powerful chapters in history when Islamic and European Cultures interacted co-operatively and creatively to realize some of the civilizations peak achievements. Our challenge today therefore, is a clash of ignorance and not civilization.

Furthermore, the most successful democracies are those in which non-governmental organizations of civil societies also play a vital role. Civil society is powered by private voluntary energies too that are committed to public good and include institutions of education, health, science and research. They embrace professional, commercial, labor, ethnic and arts organizations and others devoted to religion, communication and the environment.

The world cannot be safe for democracy unless we as individual citizens and/or groups also make the world safe for diversity and play our part in strengthening these vital platforms.

Fortunately, we live in Tanzania whose great gift to the world has been its shining example in building a strong spirit of pluralism with the net result that it is regarded as one of the most stable and peaceful countries in Africa.

In conclusion, it is therefore my humble prayer that today’s event which is also a catalyst for launching AVICENNA TANZANIA will in some way contribute to further enhancing these goals.


Thank You!

Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 7: Dar es Salaam

Day 7 of my visit to Africa: The second screening in Africa was very different than yesterday's. Both were in Dar es Salaam and both were hosted by Avicenna but the second screening gave me a better opportunity to meet more of the Tanzanian Ismailis. It was low-profile, no media - it was very real. We did something very novel for them - actually 2 novel things. The first was we played my film in English but with Gujarati subtitles! Yes, a very new addition to the film. The second was we played the 1961 film, Living Camera: Aga Khan, in a cinema for the very first time ever. Ever! What touched me most was how the entire cinema was singing along to the ginan (comparable to a hymn) at the end of that film. It was so moving, words cannot describe the true feeling, and this blog post is an injustice to that actual moment.

Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 6: Dar es Salaam

I feel too knackered to muster out an intellectual post on how the Africa Launch went (as it is 3am here!) but in summary: fabulous, challenging, exciting, riveting, and phew - the latter because the DVD projection system worked!!!

We pulled off the Africa premiere and here are some pictures:

Q+A Session
One of the questions was: Why did we not show more of the Aga Khan's work in Tanzania in the film?
Answer (para-phrase): There is no way in a 1-hr film we could cover everything. We tried to give a flavor of the depth and breadth of the Aga Khan's life pursuits and the East Africa angle was told through the Uganda story including the Serena Kampala.

Shamir speaking to the press

Potentially the real attraction of the night: snack and drinks

The Canadian High Commissioner in Tanzania speaking about her first public servant job which was to help Afghan Ismailis resettle in Canada, how Canada and the Aga Khan have a close relationship, and how she really enjoyed the film. Thank you for the kind words!

Aga Khan Film - Africa Tour. Day 5: Dar es Salaam

Hotel Kempinski looks just lovely but the projectors don't work! The hotel staff have been replacing them, trying to find new projector bulbs, replacing cables, moving the DVD system closer to the stage all without any luck thus far...

Fingers crossed all goes well for Tues...

The venue - it wont be this type of setup though...



The picture out of focus

Hotel staff trying to get to the bottom (or the top??!) of all this!

Apparently we made Cover of Coastweek Magazine, Mombasa

Just got back today from a quick safari trip ...

I got an SMS text saying we are on the cover of Coastweek Magazine. It should help as we have a very large cinema to fill in Mombasa!

The online vers is here:
http://www.coastweek.com/3124-02.htm

DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT AGA KHAN AND ISMAILIS

Coastweek - - An Islamic Conscience: The Aga Khan And The Ismailis - Film Mombasa: 4:30 p.m., Saturday, June 21, 2008.

The acclaimed groundbreaking documentary film ‘An Islamic Conscience’ makes its Kenyan debut in Mombasa on Saturday, June 21, 2008.

Born into a world of wealth and privilege, H.H. the Aga Khan devotes his life to eliminating poverty and inequality.

A religious leader who traces his ancestry back to the Prophet Muhammad, he struggles to balance the traditional with the modern.

For the past five decades, the Aga Khan has been the spiritual leader and Imam of the 15 million Ismaili Muslims in a world that has changed dramatically.

From the end of colonialism and the expulsion of the Asians in Uganda to the fall of the Iron Curtain and 9/11, the Aga Khan has struggled for a common humanity in a divided world.

Securing a rare and exclusive interview with the Aga Khan in the year of his Golden Jubilee, Bill Cran (multiple Emmy-award winning Director) and Shamir Allibhai have completed a two-year passion project to make the first documentary on the Aga Khan in over forty-five years.


At a time when Islam is at odds with itself and with the West, the Aga Khan represents a voice of moderation, speaking out for pluralism and diversity, and promoting dialogue between civilizations.

But will he be heard?

Trailer: http://agakhanfilm.org

An Islamic Conscience: the Aga Khan and the Ismailis - FILM

Tickets are free with reservation: http://agakhanfilmmombasa.eventbrite.com/

Nyali Cinemax. Main Nyali Road

P.O Box 82675 Mombasa , Kenya

Contact: Sheliza Jamal - +254 712 765 014