Epic story of Christian and Muslim unity
A NARROW Path is a Christian documentary film that looks at the relationships between Muslims and Christians in Africa and the Middle East and also encourages churches to reach out to their Muslim neighbours.
Jeff and Anneen Davies decided early in 2004 that they were led by the Holy Spirit to take a year off to travel and shoot a documentary. They felt that a film would be a powerful tool to convey their message.
Since the start of their journey, they have travelled through 17 countries collecting stories from people in the field, scripted, shot and edited the short film and put together the final product.
They started making a list of topics that were close to their hearts, looking at current world events to see what was happening around the world.
After sifting through about 20 possible topics they narrowed it down to two potential topics. These were discussed with friends, family and leaders and that is how the concept for A Narrow Path was born. “We really had fun travelling through Africa on motorbikes to film the project but there were obviously challenges involved with filming in that manner. Some of the biggest challenges were finding studios in rural Africa to film interviews.
“Sometimes we were able to find a studio but at other times we used hotel rooms with white walls and even in one case a white sheet strung across a room in someone’s house,” director Anneen said.
“It was also challenging keeping our equipment safe from dust and rattling while travelling on corrugated gravel roads. Finances were also a challenge. We financed the project ourselves, so managing our money and raising extra income when we needed to was challenging. Finally, we also had to spend time finding contributors and connecting with them,” she said.
The documentary follows three different storylines. The first is a scripted fictional story about two friends David and Khabil, a Muslim and a Christian who met at university. David is keen on convincing Khalid that his religion was the right one.
The second storyline is a non-fictional travelogue following Jeff and Anneen as they attempt to ride motorcycles from South Africa to Israel, shooting a documentary along the way. The final storyline consist of interviews with experts who were interviewed by Jeff and Anneen on their journey.
“We really hope that the film will inspire people not to be afraid of Muslims, to set fear aside. We also hope that it will make people interested to make friends with a Muslim or anyone from a different culture for that matter. We all sometimes need to step out of our comfort zones,” Anneen said.
The documentary will premier in East London at Downtown Christian Centre on May 13 and tickets are available at Computicket at R40 each.
