The BBC had broadcast a beautifully produced series, "Islam, Empire of Faith" which was screened during a week featuring various programs about Islam and Muslims. It is indisputable that Islam has left much architecture and art of great beauty and the producers had many beautiful images of worship and life. However, the lushness of the production revealed its blatant advocacy of Islam instead of a serious study it's the history, achievements beliefs and practices. Not one critical word was said, and unpleasant facts of history were completely ignored. The use of the word "Empire" is accurate, however. Islam is much more than just a personal religion; it is a complete system of government and legal system (Sharia). The Islamic Empire rose in place of the Roman Empire.
Islam, we were assured, was a benign conqueror and always built on the civilizations it took over, allowing existing religions to continue. Certainly the architectural heritage from these times is magnificent.
The Making of Islam: Empire of
Faith
by Robert Gardner, Producer
The production of Islam: Empire of Faith was a big challenge from the
beginning, simply because it covered more than a thousand years of history and
culture, and a very large part of the world.
But we really wanted to push beyond the conventional form of historical documentaries, which have depended on pans and tilts of still pictures, supplemented with landscapes and interviews. We wanted to find a way to use the visual techniques usually reserved for fiction motion pictures to tell a story of great scope that took place in pre-photographic history. This meant the project would require very large scale costumed re-enactments and equipment far beyond the ordinary documentary production package of camera, zoom lens, tripod and small light-kit.
We knew that we had to find a way to present images of cultural history — both re-enacted scenes and contemporary scenes of Islamic architecture and city life — in a way that would evoke the past, but maintain a sense of authenticity. The scenes would be dream-like and impressionistic but would still give viewers a sense that what they were seeing was accurate in historical terms.
We designed a production package that included a robotic crane with an 18-foot reach (Jimmi-jib), allowing us to fly the camera through architectural spaces, and a Stead cam that would allow for smooth camera moves through buildings at ground level — even mounting it on a truck to shoot running horses at full speed. We took a wide selection of lenses from extremely wide to telephoto and we also brought a high-speed camera for true slow-motion (500 frames per second) allowing us to slow an action down that actually took one second to fully twenty seconds on-screen. All of these taken together would provide an extraordinarily production palette. But it also meant that we had to travel with more than 40 cases of equipment — and do so in seven different countries. The logistics were severe.
The actual American camera crew was very small — Director of Photography Rege Becker (who also operated the Steadicam) and First Assistant Cameraman and Jib Operator Nick Gardner, who also shot second camera when required. The rest of the crew was hired and trained in each country — Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, Spain, Turkey and Iran.
It was in Iran that we used a motion picture company — with a crew of 50 — to produce the costumed re-enactments. Iran's foremost Art Director Majid Mirfakhraei had to create locations, costumes and props for more than a thousand years of history — from the deserts 7th century Arabia, to the palaces of the Ottoman empire. The same team of stunt riders had to be made-up and redressed to play Arabian mounted soldiers, Crusader knights, Mongol raiders, Ghazi horsemen and Ottoman cavalry. A full sized, four-story replica of the holiest shrine in the Muslim world (the Kaaba in Saudi Arabia), had to be built in the deserts of Southern Iran and the vanished world of 8th century Baghdad had to be created in the ruins of a 19th century Persian palace. More than 300 costumes were required, as well as a dozen camels and riders, dozens of sheep and goats, an entire Bedouin encampment and the streets of Jerusalem in the 11th century — complete with market stalls and citizens.
This extraordinary production design, set in epic landscapes, gives the film a startling sense of scope and provides a remarkable window through which to examine the past. The film took 18 months to edit, and is supported by an original score by Leonard Lionnet.
Film Credits
Narrated by
Ben Kingsley
Produced and Directed by
Robert Gardner
Documentary Producer
Stefano H. Kotsonis
Director of Photography
Regis Becker
Production Manager, Associate Producer
Char Gardner
Historical Re-enactments, Iran
Producer, Hedayat Films
Morteza Shayesta
Art Director, Production Designer
Majid Mir Fakhrai
First Assistant Director and Translator
Ebrahim Pourmansouri
Music
Leonard Lionnet
Writers
Jonathan Grupper
Patrick Prentice
Richard Roughton
Editors
Christopher Schultz
David Grossbach
Content Advisors
Sheila Blair, Jonathan Bloom, Ahmet Karamustafa, James W. Morris, Michael Sells,
Mohamad Arkoun
For Devillier Donegan Enterprises
Production Managers
Denise Glennon
Ciara Byrne
Program Development
Rebecca Goldfield
Supervising Producer
Greg Diefenbach
Executive Producers
Brian Donegan
Ron Devillier
A Gardner Films production in association with PBS and Devillier Donegan
Enterprises Islam: Empire of Faith was presented as part of the
Empires ® series.
Robert Gardner
Over a career that spans thirty years, documentary film producer, director and
writer Robert Gardner has been nominated for an Academy Award, won three
National Emmy Awards, four regional Emmys, a duPont Columbia award from Columbia
University for excellence in broadcast journalism and a variety of special
awards. His production company, Gardner Films has served both commercial and
public television for fifteen years. He is a member of the Director's Guild and
the Writer's Guild of America.
Gardner's best work celebrates the great variety emerging now in documentary storytelling — in science, history, adventure or human issues. He is never limited by form, but continues to experiment as the documentary continues to evolve.
"The exciting thing about documentary production is the challenge to be new," Gardner says. "Our most recent production Islam: Empire of Faith is a real effort to push beyond the conventional historical documentary, to borrow from the visual vocabulary of feature films and even music videos to create an authentic and truly evocative portal through which the audience can experience the deep past. It requires a very different story-telling mindset from the start, but when it works, something really quite new happens."
Gardner believes that production quality demands the appropriate tools. "What we learned was how important the moving camera is, how a Steadicam shot or 30-foot Jib movement creates an almost dream-like effect for the audience, a virtual movement through space. These moving camera platforms — together with extremely wide-angle lenses — pull the viewer into the location in an often startling three-dimensional fashion. This is one of the ways that we transcend time, by creating a shot which continually unfolds, continually reveals itself to the audience, so that the eye never rests too long on a costume or prop."
Ibrahim Pourmansoori
In a way, the most important person on the set of Islam: Empire of Faith
was the first assistant director Ibrahim Pourmansoori, or "Abe" as the Americans
called him. Pourmansoori had studied film and television in the United States
and was ideal for the job.
"Abe was a God-send," director Rob Gardner remembers. "His English and understanding of American idiom and slang were perfect, but more important was his experience as a television producer and director on his own. We were sometimes working with 10 stunt riders and horses, a dozen camels, and 75 extras and Abe was controlling them all, translating my directions and working with his assistants over the radios. He was a total professional, and the only guy on the set louder than me."
Pourmansoori's thorough understanding of the Iranian system of film production was very valuable to the project. His own experiences in the United States made him the ideal point of communication between the two groups. In addition, the Iranian traditions of hospitality and courtesy were evident and appreciated throughout the production.
"I really enjoyed working with Rob and the American Crew," Pourmansoori said. "And everyone worked hard to make the Americans feel comfortable — not only the Iranians on the film crew, but the Iranian people we met in the various cities we filmed in as well. It was great to see the two professional communities working together."
Majid Mirfakhraei
One of the most important elements in the production of Islam: Empire of
Faith was the work of the Art Director Majid Mirfakhraei, one of the
foremost art directors working in Iranian cinema today. As chief creative
partner to the director Robert Gardner, he was responsible for designing the
extensive historical reenactments in Islam: Empire of Faith. Mirfakhraei
oversaw the creation of more than 300 period costumes — among them Bedouin
tribesmen, Mongol soldiers, Crusaders knights, seventh-century Arab soldiers,
ninth-century scholars and scribes of Baghdad, the people of 11th-century
Jerusalem, and the royal robes of Suleyman the Magnificent and his harem. He
supervised sets and locations created and dressed for the Arabian Desert, Mecca,
seventh-century Medina, ninth-century Baghdad, Crusader era Jerusalem and the
Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
"More than anyone else, Mirfakhraei is responsible for the very distinctive look of the film — and for the extraordinary level of authenticity the locations and costumes represent," says director Rob Gardner. "He was tireless in his efforts to find the best location, no matter how remote, to fastidiously remove every power-line, automobile or other evidence of the modern day from a village scene, to dress and re-dress actors until their costumes had the right combination of wear, dirt and grit to communicate the authentic. We simply could not have done it without him."
Mr. Mirfakhraei's talents are in high demand in his native country of Iran. His current projects include a feature film about the life of the Imam, Iran's most important historical personality of the century, and Molla Sadra, a television series that tells the story of a famous medieval Iranian philosopher. In addition, Mr. Mirfakhraei teaches production design at the Art University of Tehran, the Iranian Radio and Television University, and Tehran University.