AGE OF EXTREMES

This is the film I ended up in which premiered at The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn. Ishmahil made the original Blood Diamond doco the DiCaprio film was based on as well as some seminal stuff about Cuba. He is more "anti-media" than I am but then he has had reason to be. Do check it out and tell me what you think. I am at the end of part 4 and a bit more in part 5. Do check out riceandpeas.com ..

Down by the Riverside

Ishmahil asked me to do the Q and A with Mousah Brown and himself at Riverside Studios so I thought I'd try my newly fixed bike for a night ride. Right. Crawling down the Kings Rd it completely cut out in the middle of the road. The traffic was moving so slowly I didn't bother anyone so once I got it started again I left it running for a bit with the lights off to charge the battery.

I tried a few roads to find The Riverside and ended up having to wheel the bike down a cycle lane. Anyway this is dangerously turning into a bike blog isn't it. My bike blog thankfully has a home of its own now so I'll shut up.

I watched the film for the third time now with a mixture of nerves about answering questions afterwards and nerves about trying to get my bike home. Stomping to the front with my bike boots I was glad Mousah and Ishmahil were there. After the first few questions I thought I was going to get away without saying anything, but someone who later turned out to work for the Islam channel asked me if the guys at Finsbury thought I was a spy.

I thought Mousah answered some of the audience's worries about radical Islam really well and I also got to hear a lot more about Ishmahil's past which I would like to ask him more about. Afterwards I hung around with the guy from the Islam channel and his wife and a few of the Rice and Peas crew. It was the first time I have spoken to a woman wearing a veil. Quite a strange experience as I had just watched a film which covered the topic.

My motorised pessimism was extinguished as my bike came to life with a roar, but it soon turned into a splutter as I headed down through Putney and got totally lost. It seemed to sort itself when I realised where I was again around Brixton. I thought it was quite a successful night and I got home without having to ring the breakdown service. Anyway I am off armed with DVD to see what Hajj and the guys think of the film- and if he is annoyed about appearing in it!

UPDATE:

Well Hajj, who is going on to Hajj (to Mecca) in a few weeks liked it, the others thought that if Muslims are going to speak on film they should only talk referring to Koran and Sunnah and that they shouldn't give their opinions. I ended up in quite a long debate, the same debate as usual. We all agree about problems with the financial system and those few controlling it, and about the gross injustices in the world but there is no way we are going to unite as a majority and do something about it, which is why I have fairly much given up film making or any sort of optimism.

I'm glad Hajj liked the film anyway. That meant a lot to me. The only thing he critisized was one of the girls in the film coming out with the stuff about evil Jihadi recruiters convincing wayward and ignorant Muslims to become suicide bombers. I must admit I thought that was a bit weird too as none of the 7/7 guys fitted this description. They seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Hajj himself was indirectly accused of "brainwashing kids" by some MI-5 guys who visited a friend of his at his work place recently. They gave the guy the message to pass on as an aside as they were leaving. He is a bit worried about going on Hajj as he has been warned there are thieves who prey on the visitors but he is confident Allah has already written down what is going to happen to him.

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AGE OF EXTREMES premiere TRICYCLE THEATRE

Haha well that worked out.

I haven't blogged about this before just in case. Handing over some of my precious one chip footage to someone else to make a film with has been totally out of the question for a long while, but there hasn't been a point at which I didn't like or trust Ishmahil from Rice and Peas who premièred Age of Extremes at the tricycle last night. He is a bit more anti "mainstream media" than I am, but talking to him about his own experiences he's had reason to be.

Over recent years I have seriously doubted I would do anything with my stuff, so it was good for me to let some out to someone with experience and passion to tell a story. Just chatting while we were transferring the tape dusted off a lot of memories, which was how I ended up actually being in the film as well!

I thought Ishmahil was just going to put a tiny section in but he's used a surprising amount. I was so stuttering and nervous when he was filming that later I asked if he wanted to have another go, but its all ended up just fine and it actually made me cry, seeing what I have been doing, or used to do as part of his story. Its obviously been a burden on my heart for a long time and its good to come out. It was very strange watching myself on the big screen without having seen any of it before. I don't think I have said anything I regret.

The "Helping British people not wanting to blow up" doesn't make grammatical sense, but to be included alongside a really good inside look at The Islamic channel, an insight into the debate amongst British Islamic women about the burkah, The BBC coverage of the floilla raid- I thought the whole film was a really good reflection of the UK and the story flowed really well.

Afterwards I had a bit of a chat with Moazzam Begg and Phil Rees. Moazzam seems like a man on a mission. I hope we can continue on a path with all this.

The next showing is at the Riverside Studios next Thursday, do come down.

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