‘Malcolm X’ screened in Saudi Arabia 30 years after shooting in Makkah

 

‘Malcolm X’ screened in Saudi Arabia 30 years after shooting in Makkah

Malcolm X, the first non-documentary to shoot in holy city of Makkah, took 30 years to actually screen publicly in the country. 

That historic occasion took place on Dec. 3 at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, where its director Spike Lee arrived to introduce his landmark 1992 product. 

Speaking the following day at the festival, the director described shooting the film and to take cameras to follow Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Makkah.

“We knew that by hook or by crook we had to shoot Malcolm’s Hajj because this is where he felt he converted to true Islam. But up until that point, a movie camera had never been allowed. And by the grace of God, the grace of Allah, the highest Islamic court gave us permission,” he said. “It wasn’t because of me. It was because of Malcolm X that they made that exception. They recognized who he was.”

Lee explained that, as a non-Muslim, he was not able to actually visit Makkah to shoot himself, but instead hired a Muslim camera crew who were able to film the thousands of worshippers also undertaking their hajj pilgrimage. 

“The footage we got during Hajj was just amazing and it really gave the film that epic film that we needed,” he said. “It really added so much spiritualty

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/