The appointment is scheduled for 12 noon and the
context is his latest film Komagatamaru: A Continuous Journey that
tracks the ill-fated journey of over 300 Indians to Canada in
1914. The film premiered at the Hot Docs International documentary
festival in Toronto and is Ali Kazimi's fifth documentary.
The filmmaker fails to turn up and the interview
is likely to be postponed by a few weeks as Ali is leaving for
India in two days. Just then, he calls to say he is "embarrassed
and horrified" at the slip and as if to atone for the lapse,
offers to drive up to the other end of town for the rescheduled
rendezvous. What strikes you first about the man is his sincerity,
not only in his responses to queries but also in the way he
responds thoughtfully, unhurriedly.
It is this sincerity that has touched all those
who know him and has also become a hall mark of his documentaries.
Each of his works films beginning with his debut film in 1994
Narmada: A Valley Rises, which examined at the struggle against
the Sardar Sarovar project in India, Shooting Journey - A Journey
with Jeffrey Thomas, which ploughs through the hidden history of
Canada's native people through the lens of photographer Jeffrey
Thomas, Some Kind of Arrangement, which looks at the phenomenon of
arranged marriages or
Komagatamaru: A Continuous Journey are an attempt at
unravelling the complex and hidden facets of existence. A
tete-a-tete with this India-born and raised filmmaker who came to
Canada 21 years ago on a scholarship to study films and decided to
make this country his home.
How did Komagatamaru
happen?
Its origins lay almost 20 years ago when I came
here as a student and was subject to intensive questioning by
immigration authorities. I wondered how did they have so much
power and why? Also how did Canada's visage change due to all
this? When I did some research, I came across the story of
Komagatamaru. I felt that most South Asians here did not know the
story and those who did knew vaguely that some incident happened
where a ship was stopped and turned back. The second generation
did not know it at all.
How long did it take to make the
film?
I thought of making this film eight years ago,
but there was a problem. There were very limited photographs and
second problem was with Canada's funding system which is that
unless a broadcaster is ready to take your project you cannot get
funding. Other agencies did help but I still did not have the
whole budget. So I worked on it for six to seven years. I thought
I will look at primary documents and then draw my own analysis. So
I kept researching till I got funding, and then also did my own
research for film and photographs.
Why do you think it was important to
make this film?
I felt that if I have to live in this country,
then I have to assimilate the history of Indian community and make
it my own. This film and my eight year journey was with this
objective, if I have to make Canada my home, then I have to
understand the history of people like me.
What problems did you encounter in your
research?
There is a lot of written material, there are
nearly 3,000 documents about it, but the difficulties lay in
getting photo and film. I spoke to lot of archivists and posted a
message on the net that I am making a film and if anyone has any
material to get in touch. Next day people called and said we have
been looking for years and found nothing and we are sure nothing
was ever filmed. But I felt there must be, because people were
filming at that time, though it was so expensive and I felt that
such a big event must have been filmed by someone. And I found
it.
The film claims to have some footage
that has not been screened before.
Yes. There is footage that was shot by an
amateur who did not know how to operate a camera properly. It is
not newsreel or government footage. It was by someone who thought
something important and significant was happening and should be
shot. Some collector stored it in a long reel. There are about 10
to 15 shots and till today they are locked in Canadian national
archives. I found it and know which reel has this footage but have
not found time yet to share it with others.
Your films raise issues of human rights?
Is it an issue close to your heart?
Absolutely. Human rights is a very serious issue
and people do pay lip service to it. There have been a lot of
changes and we have made some progress, but we cannot say that we
have a reached a point where we do not need to talk about human
rights issues.
Narmada - A Valley Rising was your first
documentary. How did you make it and
when?
I started that film in 1990. I was in touch with
my friend Ashish Kothari and his organisation Kalpvriksh, had
prepared a report based on their visit to Narmada valley. I read
that report and, in 1990, Ashish asked me to visit the valley and
see the movement against the Sardar Sarovar project. I went to
Delhi and met Medha Patkar and she asked me to go with her. I
asked: 'when' and she replied: 'in two hours.' Very few people in
the country knew about the movement there, particularly in 1990. I
spent two weeks there. There was a rally and their demand that
construction on dam be stopped till an independent review. They
said bring your camera and in 10 days talks will be over. It took
six weeks, but what I learnt in those six weeks was
unparalleled.
Tell us about your next film Shooting
Journey.
When I came to Canada and was going to return to
India in 1984, I thought I will take a film with me. I lived a
year here, and I felt that I could not make a film on this whole
society/country. I had met photographer Jeffrey Thomas due to my
interest in photography. His work is based on Red Indians. I felt
that Red Indians' culture has changed a lot, and many artists have
emerged out of that community. One of them was photographer
Jeffrey Thomas and since his work was based on Red Indians I felt
I could look at this issue with him.
How did you get interested in making
films?
I taught myself photography when I was 13. I set
up a dark room in the bathroom and used to do my printing and
processing. When I went to college, I stated seriously getting
into photography. I became a member of the photography society at
college and that dark room at college became my second classroom.
I taught myself and others how to process and print, and by third
year I was doing small freelance assignments.
After graduation I decided to try my hand at
freelancing and at the same time I was making radio documentaries.
And then I remember seeing Anand Patwardhan's film on Indian
migrant workers in Canada. That opened my eye to the possibility
of not only making documentaries but documentaries which could
offer a social, political, economic and historical analysis that
were away from the films' tradition or even away from wildlife
national geographic kind of films.
How did you come to
Canada?
I came to study film production at York and the
intention was to go back and to me it seems like yesterday that I
came here.
What made you stay
on?
Complicated question. (laughs) There were many
reasons. One of the things I felt was documentary filmmaking is
extremely difficult. In India people who have been able to really
sustain themselves are people who (whether they admit or not),
come from privileged backgrounds, who either have economic cushion
to fall back or work and live in circles that offer ways of making
films or have political connections which allow access to that. I
don't say this as a way of denying people's abilities or negating
what people have done because even with that it is a struggle.
Television production was thriving but I did not want to do
anything with TV production. I like the documentary scene here
(Canada). Again the documentary scene here is very very hard, but
I felt inspite of the lack of connections that Canada did offer
the possibility of trying.
What has your experience as a
documentary filmmaker been?
The journey I feel at times is madness. I am
often asked how much money do I make. I tell them that if you want
to make money you should not make documentary films. Ten years ago
I felt that the path I have chosen is very difficult and I should
leave it, but when I thought about it I felt that the only thing I
know is to make films and I did not know anything else. That is
the only reason why I can share my views with others. There are
difficulties but then you do it.
What are the problems faced by
independent filmmakers?
It is a high price to pay. We do not know where
the next project will come from, where its funding will come from,
and what our next year's earning will be. People talk of
retirement here (Canada), but we do not even think about it and
putting money in retirement fund is impossible. But what we get is
an opportunity to express ourselves and our views in depth. While
making films is one thing, equally important is distributing it,
and it is here that there are a lot of problems these days. The
space available for documentaries in television has both grown and
shrunk. There are a lot of people making documentaries, but all
these documentaries have to be made in a standard and particular
format and style, so independent filmmakers who have their
different stories and styles find it difficult to express
themselves in this standard format.
Aren't you a cinematographer
too?
Mostly, I wield the camera for my film. Firstly
it saves money (laughs) I don't have to hire a cameraperson, but
more importantly I do interviews myself where I shoot and record
sound. It is sometimes difficult to do both simultaneously, but
the advantage is that it gives me mobility and when I do the
interviews there is intimacy because they open up. If there is a
big crew, lights, etc. people may feel
inhibited.
Have you also worked as a
cinematographer with other directors?
Absolutely. I have a lot of Canadian friends
with whom I work, I work with friends, and all of us learn a lot
from each other.
Have you started working on your next
film?
I am still researching my next film. It is in
its preliminary stages so I will not talk about
it.
Not even about the
subject?
No
(laughs).
Site Designed &
Developed by SiDS iNTERACTIVE
