Bilal Haider is a director, writer, and filmmaker. After graduating from UT Austin, Haider went on to direct his award-winning short film “The Prisoner’s Song.”
Hayat Life Managing Editor Maha Qadri spoke with Haider about his inspiration behind the film and upcoming projects.
Haider talks “Dusty Mesa Films” origins and Muslim-American identity
Qadri: Your production company is called “Dusty Mesa Films.” I was wondering how you came up with the name and who’s part of the crew.
Haider: I started it with a friend in 2016. When we were trying to make a short film, we were thinking about hiring SAG actors, but we needed a company to do that. Anytime my friend was in an instance where he was talking to people who were smarter than him, he would come up with flowery, profound quotes such as, “It’s like they always say: from the dusty mesa, her looming shadow grows.” The name was just taken from the first lyric of the song from “True Detective.” It was dumb, but we just went with it. He’s since left the project, but I now share Dusty Mesa Films with three other individuals I met in college and through film.
Qadri: I was reading your director’s statement on your website, and it seemed a bit pessimistic in regard to your identity as a Muslim-American. Do you feel like being Muslim-American has affected you in any positive way?
Haider: I don’t want to say that it hasn’t. Being a Muslim-American, I am granted more privileges here than I would have somewhere else, so I’m not going to act like this country doesn’t give me any value. When I write things like a director’s statement or a film, it’s to point out problems, so there’s not a lot of room to talk about the positives. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. I think that being Muslim-American is a very unique identity compared to just being a Muslim.
Haider reflects on his award-winning short film, “The Prisoner’s Song”
Qadri: Looking through your projects, I saw your short film “The Prisoner’s Song” has a lot of recognition. How did the idea for that film come about? Was it about someone you knew personally?
Haider: My producer at the time, James Rozelle, his whole family had gone to prison, but he was the only one that hadn’t, so he wanted to do something with the idea. We wanted to focus on the feelings of isolation caused by the American prison system and its numerous problems rather than an overly dramatic “Shawshank”-type film.
While throwing ideas around, we found this song online called “The Prisoner’s Song.” It was from the 1920s and was the first song in the U.S. to reach five million in sales. However, the guy who performed it didn’t write it. It was written by his brother’s cellmate in prison, and nobody knew who he was, so he never received any royalties. We thought that would be an interesting detail to include. It seemed to work considering that people have responded to it very well.
Qadri: I read that the film won a lot of awards. When you guys started getting recognition for “The Prisoner’s Song,” what did that mean to y’all, specifically due to the subject matter of the film?
Haider: The awards were recognition from a filmmaking perspective. In terms of content perspective, what made me feel best was when I saw someone posting about the movie on Reddit and sharing it on film forums. I read a lot of the comments from people who had served time, and they thought the film did a good job of capturing personal experiences that they hadn’t seen in a film before. That was the best recognition I could have gotten; their sign of approval and confirmation that we did not misconstrue what the isolation and loneliness felt like both in and out of prison. That meant more than the awards. Awards are more centered around the art of filmmaking rather than the subject matter, in my opinion.
Qadri: Did you get any negative feedback as the movie gained popularity?
Haider: I screened the film at a UT student film festival and held a Q&A afterward. When I started speaking, someone from the crowd got up and started yelling and cursing at me. I don’t know if it was because of the subject matter or if it was because he didn’t like me. It made the Q&A awkward, and the moderator accused me of setting it up, which was insulting. But that’s the most negative response I’ve gotten. At large, people were complimentative.
Haider looks into the future of his ongoing projects
Qadri: Moving onto another film, “Raghead”: can you tell me about the concept and its background. What’s up with the pig imagery?
Haider: That film hasn’t been made yet. It’s a Neo-Western from the perspective of a young man in middle-of-nowhere, Texas who is being hate-crimed by someone unknown. It’s based on a lot of real events in Texas where people would leave pigs’ heads and feet in front of Mosques. This film explores the identity of a Muslim-American born in Texas. In Texas, specifically, I think we’re still seeing the impact of prejudice that came from 9/11.
The film came about because my co-writer and I grew up during that time. I always thought it was interesting that most people remember where they were on 9/11, but I don’t. Despite that, it had a significant impact on people like me who are Muslim-Americans, so this film is me trying to explore those themes within the very tired genre of a Western.
Qadri: I saw another project you’re working on named after the “Hi, How Are You?” mural about East Austin and its history. What inspired you to tell this story?
Haider: I moved to the east side in 2022, and I didn’t know much about its history. On TikTok, there are videos about how cool the East Side is and how it’s a fun place to move. But when you go there, it feels confusing. Half the streets are old houses, the other half are streets with million-dollar apartments that don’t gel with each other.
One day, I was walking my dog and this old guy on horseback came up to me, tipped his hat, and went off. I was like, “What the f***? What was that?” Immediately, the visual was interesting, but I didn’t give it much thought at the time. However, my co-writer, Juan Salvera, his dad grew up on the East Side, and he taught me about its history. It led me down a rabbit hole, and then I learned about the trail-riders. There was a group of Black trail riders on the east side that rode as a hobby.
There was a piece in the Austin American-Statesman about them written by Bronte Wittpenn. It was a really good article. We contacted her, and she was kind enough to put us in contact with them. We’ve gotten to know them personally and even went out to a couple of events like Juneteenth this year. Meeting these guys, they presented us with a cowboy narrative about a space that’s changing. The thing is five — maybe ten — years from now, this story might be radically different from what it is right now.
Qadri: Did you pick the name “Hi, How Are You?” before or after the demolition of the area? It’s a fitting symbol.
Haider: It’s interesting that the city would preserve a mural that doesn’t really have a lot of significance anymore. Austin is a mess and losing its identity, even outside of the east side, with so many people from California and New York moving in. The Texas hospitality that Austin was known for is gone, and it makes me look at that mural that’s standing in front of all of this rubble as sort of a joke, an inside joke.
Our film will follow an old trail rider trying to get from one place to another but is lost because of how his surroundings have changed. So it turns into this whole odyssey, and you can’t help but feel a little frustrated when no one stops and asks, “Hi, how are you?”
