Imam and I has a Middle East Premiere at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival

Watch the trailer here

Imam and I is a fascinating and detailed personal journey through the life, death and legacy of little known apartheid struggle hero Imam Abdullah Haron. The film is an intricate blend of archive, animation and live action interwoven with recollections and stories of those closest to the Imam.

Khalid, the filmmaker who is also the Imam's grandson, paints a portrait of the Imam as a family figure through all the myth that surrounded his death and legacy.

Imam Abdullah Haron was one of the only voices from the Muslim community of Cape Town to stand up against the injustices of Apartheid during the 50s and 60s. For this he was incarcerated
and killed in detention in Cape Town on September the 27th, 1969.
The filmmaker explores questions of identity, memory, betrayal and sacrifice as well as the role of the Islamic community of the Cape during apartheid’s 'dark days'.

Imam and I intimately reveals the traumatic effects the Imam’s family suffered after his demise. It is a brave attempt of the filmmaker to understand himself, whilst laying testament to a past
that, for a long while, had remained forgotten.

Imam and I was voted best film overall and won the audience award at this year's Encounters film festival in South Africa.
“The film casts a magical spell on you by pulling you deeper and deeper into the world of the Imam and his family, into the inside of a unique closely knit black community which very little has
been written about never mind filmed, a remarkable feat which bears testimony to the determination of the filmmaker, whom has spent the last six years on this project says Rehad Desai – filmmaker

The DIFF screenings are:

• Thursday 8th December, 22.30 at the Mall of the Emirates - Filmmaker in attendance.
• Thursday 9th December, 18.00 at the Mall of the Emirates - Filmmaker in attendance.

Dubai Film Festival

Visit Tuba Films.