Artist's Statement
[français]

At the turn of this century I was a student at Ryerson University architecture school and disinterested in religion or politics. I was oblivious of what was going on in the world outside of my own existence. 9/11 changed the way I viewed myself and the World around me. I was forced to confront my religion, my beliefs, my politics and most of all, my Pakistani heritage. All my identities came into question all at once and I decided that I would try to educate myself.

I became a peace activist trying to stop the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in my small way. I went to all the anti-war demonstrations and protests. In 2003 the war against Iraq was waged and I felt hopeless. I just wanted to close my eyes and ears and move on with my life. This is when sweeping anti-terror arrests started in Canada.

On 14th August 2003, the 56th independence day of Pakistan, the newspaper headlines screamed of a terror cell in Toronto of all places. The RCMP's (Canadian Police) terror sweep was labeled Project Thread. I joined an activist group in Toronto called Project Threadbare that came together in response to the arrests, once it was clear that those arrests were made under wrong implications. We held a meeting at OISE (University of Toronto). The following day I went to the Immigration and Refugee board where the hearing of one of the detainees named Fahim Kayani was to take place.

I had never been to a criminal or an immigration hearing before. When I saw Fahim dressed in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs and shackles I realized that this moment may change my life forever. I was at first overcome by fear and then anger as it was revealed that Fahim Kayani was innocent and the only reason he was being kept jailed was because there was no one to offer
his bail. The Muslim and Pakistani community wanted nothing to do with the Project Thread victims due to the taint of terrorism attached to them.

I dropped out of my final year of Architecture school, bought the cheapest mini DV camera I could find with my credit card and set out to help get Fahim and the other 21-25 victims out of jail. Over the next few months I helped the Project Thread victims and tried to find justice for them along with Project Threadbare. I taught myself film editing and tried to capture the struggle of the Project Thread victims on tape as best as possible.

This is how I became a filmmaker.

Over the last three and a half years, I have struggled to complete this film without any funding or any help from the Government or other institutions. Monetary support to first-time filmmakers is scarce. My last edit won me a NFB film maker's assistance program grant for post-production assistance which I have been unable to use so far. I am currently looking for sponsorship and funding in order to cover the exorbitant cost of television news clips and post-production expenses.

"Threadbare" is my first feature documentary.

Arshad Khan,
Director