DIRECTOR'S CHAT: Khalid Shamis

Tymon Smith speaks to filmmaker Khalid Shamis about his debut documentary

Khalid Shamis's feature film, The Imam and I, explores the director's relationship with his grandfather, the influential Muslim cleric Imam Abdullah Haron who died in detention in Cape Town in the 1960s. The film was winner of the audience award at this year's Encounters Documentary Film Festival and shows at the Tri-Continents Festival, which starts today.

How did the experience of making the film change your ideas about your grandfather, who died before you were born?

There's a deeper understanding of my personal relationship with him. How do you have a relationship with someone who you never met and who died? The process of making the film kind of reinforced my idea of him in a way. It also opened up my relationship with my family through their relationship with him and my interrogation of them and helped me to understand my mother a lot more and what she and her family went through.

Had you always intended to put yourself at the centre of the film?

My first intention was to make a film about him, a portrait of him by people who knew him and who were inspired by him. I never thought of bringing myself into the film as a character, but I couldn't escape it and it ended up becoming that. It was difficult to balance all the elements but I was clear that the first thing is Imam, then it is Khalid, then family, then the Cape Town Muslim community. I tried to tie it all together in the end and I hope it works. Personal films are difficult. There were so many interesting elements that didn't make it into the final film.

How do you think the community feels about the story now that you've explored something that for many is a community issue rather than a subject for outsiders?

I think there's some kind of catharsis for them in that way because there are things that are known that haven't been openly discussed about the divisions within the community. It's been received very well because of the personal aspects and also by many people who aren't Muslim or from the community. I think coming as an outsider and becoming an insider enable that. If I was just an outsider it may have been very one-sided, if I was just an insider I might not have been able to get the depth that I needed. Having that space to play both fields helps to bring it to wider audiences. The trick of the personal film is that people can't argue with your point of view - it's like a joker up your sleeve.

Was it difficult to sell the film to funders?

It wasn't hard to sell the idea to anyone at all. People were very supportive of it. It was hard to get money. I was refused twice by the NFVF and then they gave me finishing money, which really helped. I came here in 2005 with money that I had saved in the UK and I knew I wasn't going to be working for the first six months or so, so I bought a camera and did all the interviews myself. So I funded 80% of the film myself over six years. Cape Town people didn't come through with any funding at all. It was mainly personal money from Johannesburg and Durban that helped.

• For more information visit www.3continentsfestival.co.za