KARACHI: Sept 11, 2001, changed the lives of millions the world over. As racial profiling became the norm in the days following the terrorist attacks in the United States, the Muslim-American population specifically felt they had to justify their religion and their patriotism towards a country they consider home. Based on this specific theme, actor and film-maker Umair Hameed’s 12-minute short film, screened at the T2f on Sunday, says a lot about misunderstood identities as well as dealing with the constant fear of proving one’s allegiance to the state.

Named Ashes, the film begins with a character named Mohammad Hamza, about to board a flight from a US airport while going to Washington DC dressed in a traditionally Muslim attire with a skullcap on his head. Hamza is stopped midway by a security official belonging to the Department of Homeland Security.

In the next scene, a bruised and handcuffed Hamza is asked by the official to justify where he is going and why. Not waiting for a reply, the officer spills the contents of his bag on the table from which a burnt US flag, a holy book and a silver jar drop on to the table. Hamza is curtly asked to read from the “terrorist manual” and explain why the US flag is burnt.

Hamza reads excerpts from the Quran where it states that killing a human equals to killing the entire humanity. Not satisfied with the reply, the officer opens the silver jar instead from which a white powder like substance spills out which makes Hamza plead with the officer to stop and wait for him to explain everything.

In the next scene that follows, Hamza explains that his brother worked with the US Marine Corps and was killed in a suicide attack on one of the check posts in Afghanistan. The burnt US flag and his brother’s ashes were the only things the officers from Afghanistan could send home to his parents. In the three-minute monologue that follows, Hamza speaks about his family’s move to the US, his brother’s passion to serve in the US army, and his parents’ reluctance in sending off their son. “My parents asked my brother to rethink his decision to go to Afghanistan. But he said he wanted to do that for the country that gave him everything he has and that this is his chance to pay back,” he tells the officer, who is by now silently listening to him.

In the next scene, the officer is seen unlocking the handcuffs asking Hamza to leave. “Were you going to the Arlington Cemetery in DC?” the officer asks as a last resort to make it up to Hamza for his behaviour before. But Hamza just stares at him before grabbing his stuff and leaves.

As the end credits start rolling, a volunteer at the T2F asks Hameed to answer questions of the audience. Born in the US, Hameed grew up in Dallas, Texas and later moved to Los Angeles in California. “I was in high school when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened and that brought with fear in openly calling myself a Muslim. My younger brother removed his car’s number plate which had his name written in Arabic font so that he is not considered an Arab,” Hameed shared with the audience.

After graduating from the New York Film Academy in 2010, during which he submitted the film as his final year project, Hameed thought of moving back to Pakistan. “I moved back in February this year and since then people have been asking me why I moved back when I had a lot of opportunities while living there. But I’m interested in independent films and theatre and [will] see where it goes from there,” he added.

He was asked about the conspiracy theories linked to 9/11 which Hameed he said are “a waste of time and intelligence”.

Speaking about his upcoming projects, he said he has a script for a feature film which will show “Pakistan in a positive light”. Apart from that, he said there is a growing market for films to explore in Pakistan as the audience is attracted to good content which the current film-makers seem attuned to and eager to provide.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2016