Documentary filmmaker and squash teaching professional Josh Easdon will be presenting his film, "Keep Eye on Ball: The Hashim Khan Story," Nov. 4 at the Avon Theatre, exploring the extraordinary life of Pakistan's first national hero and the father of modern squash.
Originally from Brooklyn, Easdon learned squash as a youngster and was competing in tournaments as a teen. He received a BA from Vassar College and wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life after he graduated.
"After college, squash just sort of took over my life and I became a pro and have been teaching squash for many years now," he says. "I decided to go back to The New School for media studies and really focused on documentaries."
His first film, "Inside Dyslexia," looked at three different New York kids for a period of two years who had different stages of dyslexia.
"After that, I wanted to combine what I knew from squash and tell a big history of squash as seen through the eyes of all the colonies that the British conquered when they went around the world. The idea of what they left behind and talking about it in terms of squash," Easdon says. "Some other squash players heard the idea and recommended that instead I do some smaller pieces on some people who play the game, because there have been some really great characters in squash."
And after talking to squash players, Easdon knew the best person to profile was Hashim Khan, the Pakistani squash player who many consider to be one of the world's greatest athletes ever.
"His story was really interesting. He was kind of like a Jackie Robinson of squash, as he was not a man of privilege for what was very much an elitist sport," Easdon says. "Because of his personality and ability, he was able to knock down these barriers and people didn't mind getting crushed by him."
In 1951, four years after the independence of Pakistan, 37-year-old Khan was permitted to enter the British Open. Virtually unknown at the time, he upended the elite squash world by winning the first of his seven British Open titles.
"He comes across as this very humble person and he's very friendly, but he was also able to seize his opportunity," Easdon says. "On a certain level he was very open to talk about things, but I wanted the non-squash player in the audience to really sink their teeth into this story and be fascinated by it."
Khan has been living in the states for the past 50 years and he was very excited to have the movie made about his life.
"I raised enough money to bring some other students with me and we went out to Denver and filmed him, his club, and a tournament they were hosting," Easdon says. "We raised enough money to go to Pakistan and something that was a student documentary turned into something professional as we went along."
The biggest challenge with the film, Easdon says, is that, at 97 years old, Khan didn't always remember everything perfectly.
"We had other people we interviewed fill in the blanks," he says. "It was a real collaborative effort between the squash community and Khan's family."
The director says the documentary goes beyond the four walls of the squash court, tracing the squash legend's story from a turbulent moment in the history of three nationsv--vEngland, India and Pakistan -- to Khan's life as a Muslim in post-9/11 America. The documentary includes rare footage of the Khyber Pass and the remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan.
"He seemed to feel comfortable in any setting he was put in and this is someone who grew up in Northern Pakistan whose family lived up in the mountains and were basically herdsman," Easdon says. "Yet he was playing squash with the most privileged people in the world."
The documentary has been showing at a number of film festivals and will make its Connecticut debut at the Avon. Easdon will answer questions after the screening.
Originally from Brooklyn, Easdon learned squash as a youngster and was competing in tournaments as a teen. He received a BA from Vassar College and wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life after he graduated.
"After college, squash just sort of took over my life and I became a pro and have been teaching squash for many years now," he says. "I decided to go back to The New School for media studies and really focused on documentaries."
His first film, "Inside Dyslexia," looked at three different New York kids for a period of two years who had different stages of dyslexia.
"After that, I wanted to combine what I knew from squash and tell a big history of squash as seen through the eyes of all the colonies that the British conquered when they went around the world. The idea of what they left behind and talking about it in terms of squash," Easdon says. "Some other squash players heard the idea and recommended that instead I do some smaller pieces on some people who play the game, because there have been some really great characters in squash."
And after talking to squash players, Easdon knew the best person to profile was Hashim Khan, the Pakistani squash player who many consider to be one of the world's greatest athletes ever.
"His story was really interesting. He was kind of like a Jackie Robinson of squash, as he was not a man of privilege for what was very much an elitist sport," Easdon says. "Because of his personality and ability, he was able to knock down these barriers and people didn't mind getting crushed by him."
In 1951, four years after the independence of Pakistan, 37-year-old Khan was permitted to enter the British Open. Virtually unknown at the time, he upended the elite squash world by winning the first of his seven British Open titles.
"He comes across as this very humble person and he's very friendly, but he was also able to seize his opportunity," Easdon says. "On a certain level he was very open to talk about things, but I wanted the non-squash player in the audience to really sink their teeth into this story and be fascinated by it."
Khan has been living in the states for the past 50 years and he was very excited to have the movie made about his life.
"I raised enough money to bring some other students with me and we went out to Denver and filmed him, his club, and a tournament they were hosting," Easdon says. "We raised enough money to go to Pakistan and something that was a student documentary turned into something professional as we went along."
The biggest challenge with the film, Easdon says, is that, at 97 years old, Khan didn't always remember everything perfectly.
"We had other people we interviewed fill in the blanks," he says. "It was a real collaborative effort between the squash community and Khan's family."
The director says the documentary goes beyond the four walls of the squash court, tracing the squash legend's story from a turbulent moment in the history of three nationsv--vEngland, India and Pakistan -- to Khan's life as a Muslim in post-9/11 America. The documentary includes rare footage of the Khyber Pass and the remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan.
"He seemed to feel comfortable in any setting he was put in and this is someone who grew up in Northern Pakistan whose family lived up in the mountains and were basically herdsman," Easdon says. "Yet he was playing squash with the most privileged people in the world."
The documentary has been showing at a number of film festivals and will make its Connecticut debut at the Avon. Easdon will answer questions after the screening.
No comments:
Post a Comment