Benjamin Gilmour - Son of a Lion
Sydney director Benjamin Gilmour traded an ambulance for the North-West Frontier of Pakistan to make a film about children in post-9/11 Islamic societies. He speaks here about Son Of A Lion
By Brooke Salisbury
Why
did you make this film? Son of a Lion is made for a Western audience,
although Pashtun viewers are very keen on it. The purpose of this film
was to help balance out the negative stereotyping we have seen
regarding Muslims and Afghans. To think that 50-60 years ago we were
all so keen on Lawrence of Arabia and Omar Sharif and orientalism in
art and now look: turbans and beards scare the shit out of us! All
because of a handful of nutters claiming to be Muslims. Sorry, I don't
judge all Catholics based on the actions of a few depraved priests. My
film is a protest against bigotry, racism and fallacy. I made it for
people who buy into Islamaphobic propaganda.
What sort of challenges
did you encounter in the filming? Morgan Spurlock can attest to the
warnings that entering tribal areas as a foreigner is suicide. He
didn't go to the most likely Al-Qaeda sanctuary, despite making a film
titled Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden.
To get in I had to
grow my beard, dress in local threads, and mix it up with locals on
mini-buses packed in like a sardine. This was the only way to get past
the countless checkpoints. I stitched my camera up in an old potato
sack and I really did look the part. Locals were asking me for the time
in Pashto... Pashtuns are, for the most part, open-minded people who
have a distaste for extremism, contrary to what is depicted of them in
the mass media. They simply want to protect their way of life.
You
travelled in Pakistan prior to 9/11 - what sort of disparity do you see
now? There was massive disparity. 9/11 was devastating for them. Not
only did their image suffer globally, but the US chased all these crazy
Talibs over the border into their 'hood. In terms of Al-Qaeda, a
Pashtun is required to give shelter to fugitives and protect them with
their lives. It's an ancient tribal custom that cannot be broken. The
most shameful thing for a Pashtun, second only to farting in public, is
to give up a guest. Osama knew this when he fled by camel from Tora
Bora after the US-bombing, just past the town in which I shot my film.
My actors saw him. Osama and his henchmen have used the Pashtun tribal
code to remain at large. Sadly, this has dragged the Pashtuns into a
geopolitical situation not of their making. The Pashtuns are brave,
beautiful, honourable, generous people.
Now you've made a film -
you're rich and famous and not a paramedic, eh? I still work full-time
as a paramedic in Sydney, and have been one for 12 years. Not only is
it a fab job full of action and adventure, but I need to pay my damn
rent!
Son of a Lion is showing from Thu 21 Aug at the Chauvel
Cinema Paddington, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne & Reading Auburn
Cinemas.
Read Time Out's review of Son of a Lion