SUNDAY 10 SEPTEMBER, 2017 – UWI TODAY
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novel in progress to adapt my stories to film. Amir’s
adaptation of (my story) “The Nowarian” was impressive,”
she says. “Amir has a sense of humility and he is passionate
about film. He is a star.”
Anna, a graduate research assistant at the Film
Programme, helps deserving students find scholarship and
graduate-level opportunities. She was contacted by the
Cuban Embassy about the Cuomo Foundation scholarship
and encouragedAmir and others to apply.They are currently
working on a documentary called “Super Freak” about
legendary fashion designer, Yoko Fung.
At Rotterdam, Amir met members of the industry and
festival coordinators from around the world. He attended
workshops held by Academy Award-nominated filmmakers.
A new world of potential has opened for him.
“My big goal is to affect as large an audience as possible,”
he says. “I had the ambitions but I knew I didn’t have the
money to go abroad and do anything. Now the opportunities
have come.”
He is quick to point out that even without the
developments that have come from his winning film he
was determined to create with whatever resources he had.
“I’mperfectly fine with using the tools I currently have.
But if new tools come I will take it.”
If there is one lesson to be learned from the young
filmmaker, especially by other aspiring artists, is that the
success he has achieved in his short career was paid for with
one ultimate currency – resilience.
“I’ve seen so many people who are better than me,
who are more talented than me, who have way more skill.
But under pressure they crack. Sometimes it’s only a little
pressure and they crack,” he says.
“I have been broken down so much that nothing can
break me lower. Because of that I can persevere. It gave me
a thicker skin to deal with the world. Somehow I do better
when I’m under pressure. Too many artists complain about
what they don’t have rather than using what they actually
have and making it work.”
Most tellingly, he’s also a martial artist. Amir trained
with a group of martial artists and soldiers, including well-
known self-defense expert Major Sarwan Boodram, from a
very young age. This wasn’t the typical karate training that
tends to emphasize proper form and light contact sparring.
The training was reality-based and with military discipline.
THEATRE OF LIFE
Amir recalls, “my first year in primary school I was
the smallest person. There was one student who used to
bully me. The next time he came to bully me he couldn’t
do it anymore.”
He was five years old at the time but he had already
learned an enormously valuable life lesson. Bullies can be
defeated once you are willing to do the work of defeating
them. The work was brutal.
“Back then we used to get blows,” he says. “They put
us in real fight scenarios. People got busted up and stitched
up. I lost a tooth. I was 11.”
It sounds rough but it’s clear he remembers those days
fondly, as well as his instructors, who he credits with training
them with military-style discipline. Training which in turn
gifted him with military-style endurance.
“We used to train at the barracks sometimes. Sometimes
we had to wake up at 11 pm, train until 3 am and then sleep
until 4 am. That is why I don’t sleep much. I can go on just a
couple hours for a couple days. That training gave me some
of the traits that I need to survive in the world.”
“The focus wasn’t really on winning. It was on survival.
That mentality is what permeates throughout my lifestyle.
Film is more my profession but martial arts is more my way
of life,” he says.
It’s funny, because we tend to think of art as a frivolous
pursuit and creatives as indisciplined dreamers. Many artist
themselves rely on their innate talent and inspiration to
fuel them and when those are not enough they collapse.
The truth is that to thrive, to succeed in a profession that is
naturally devalued, you have to be more focused. You have
to self-generate whatever it takes to continue the work.
Author Steven Pressfield, writer of “The War of Art”
says artists must be like soldiers because creativity is an act
of war against the numerous forces of resistance. There’s
one striking scene in “Who I say I Am” where the young
filmmaker sits on an outdoor couch next to a little girl.
Smiling, relaxed, with a Nescafe cup in hand he asks her,
“Do you think that your name is a crucial factor in the
development of self and your individualistic identity?”
Occupied with her drawing she responds “yeah!” He tilts
back his head and laughs. It’s the laugh of a soldier during
a lull in the fighting. It’s a laugh of someone who is winning
the war.
Amir (right) with Anna Levi (left) music icon Machel Montano and legendary designer Yoko Fung
at the UWI Film Programme for a biopic on her life and work.
Amir teaches combat readiness to youngsters at Presentation College. He credits his martial arts
training as a major source of his resilience and ability to succeed.
PHOTOS COURTESY AMIR ALI
I didn’t follow the path they
wanted me to take. Teachers
used to tell me all the time
I could get a scholarship in
engineering or something else,
but I found I didn’t really care
about that. Making short films
did more for me personally.
