Q: What was the inspiration behind this documentary? How did it come about?

David Batty: Given our previous track record with delivering intimate stories about marginalised Australians, SBS approached our production company “Rebel Films” to produce a series about Muslim Australians. The challenge now was to get an “in” with the Muslim community.

We were producing a half hour doco for SBS called Veiled Ambition, which was shot predominantly in the Muslim neighbourhood of Brunswick and Coburg. After making films in remote Australia for over 25 years I had just relocated to Melbourne and was enjoying shooting in the city. SBS mentioned that they’d like a series about Muslim Australians, so that gave us the impetus to explore the community in depth and start to develop some ideas.

I looked for the most universal thing that all Muslims had in common and that was to eat Halal food. I then thought of a unifying factor that Australians had in common around food and came up with the meat pie. I found a halal butcher that stocked Halal meat pies and was just around the corner from our studio on Sydney Road. I went up and met the owner, Houssam who proved to be extremely generous of spirit and offered to be my guide. This opened up my understanding of Islam, inspired the title of the series ”Halal Mate” and developed into an episode around Houssam and his butcher shop.


Q: Did you encounter any particular challenges in making this documentary and how did you overcome them?

David Batty: Making documentaries is always a challenge. It requires a specific set of skills with the most important being the ability to enter other peoples lives, gain their trust and gain their consent to film as much of their lives or story as possible. In this instance I had to get an understanding of Islam and tread very carefully being critically aware not to offend anyone and adhere to protocols needed to maintain access to all parties concerned. A major difficulty was being lumped in with other media. Given the sensationalist and often insensitive coverage of anything to do with Islam I often had a hard time convincing people that I was not like the others.


Q: How does the documentary relate to your past work, if at all? Was this film a natural next step or a radical departure from your previous work?

David Batty: Much of my work over the past 25 years has been with Aboriginal people, shooting in remote Australia so it was obviously quite different shooting in multicultural Melbourne. Our last production - Veiled Ambition - was about a Muslim woman and her entry into the world of fashion and business so was the perfect pre-curser to this series.


Q: Any other production anecdotes?

David Batty: The most notable part of the production for me was the Lebanon shoot. I travelled with an interpreter to a remote village to the north. I was amazed at the level of poverty and high unemployment. There are few if any government services. It was here that I got a true understanding of how Islam was such a cohesive force within the community. Nobody went hungry, was lonely and there was very little crime.


Q: Apart from "it's a masterpiece" what would your ideal viewer response to the doco be!?

David Batty: I hope the series gives the non Muslim viewer an insight into ordinary Muslim life in Australia. I also hope the Muslim community will enjoy the characters, places and stories.


Q: What is your next project or what are you working on now?

David Batty: We are working on two projects at the moment. Desert Heart, which is a half hour film for the ABC about a group of Aboriginal people who walked out of the desert in the late sixties and are now prominent artists. We also start on another film for the ABC in August about the wedding Industry.