In 1985, after hearing a cassette tape of an instrumental song called ‘Gumboots’ performed by the South African band Boyoyo Boys, the singer-songwriter Paul Simon travelled to South Africa to record with local musicians.The result of that collaboration was the 1986 album ‘Graceland’, which went on to become Simon’s most successful recording.But not everyone was happy; by recording in South Africa and touring with a band of South African musicians, Simon was accused of violating the United Nations cultural boycott of South Africa, put in place in an attempt to help bring down the nation’s racist apartheid regime.In the documentary film, ‘Under African Skies’, director Joe Berlinger tells the story of ‘Graceland’, from its inception to the political uproar it created.He also shoots Simon on his return to South Africa, 25 years after the album was released, for a reunion concert with musicians including guitarist Ray Phiri and trumpeter Hugh Masekela — and records their insights.Particularly fascinating is a conversation that Simon has in the film with Dali Tambo, the former head of the group, Artists Against Apartheid, which opposed Simon’s visit to South Africa more than two decades ago.Berlinger brilliantly intertwines both sides of a complex story into the film as Simon revisits old ghosts and gains insights on his own musical journey.The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and last month won an Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.The Royal Gazette spoke to Berlinger about the film.Q: What were your goals while making ‘Under African Skies’?A: We wanted to present both sides of the controversy and we wanted to explore the making of this amazing music. With Graceland Paul Simon brought World Music to the masses.His process for creating this music was brilliant. He worked with these amazing musicians in South Africa and was arranging and composing on the fly, taking certain sounds and changing them up, taking these backing tracks to New York and London and writing songs on top of them.This was long before the advent of Pro Tools and sampling. He had experimented with the process with earlier songs but never with an entire album.Watching Paul create new takes on these songs gave me an even deeper appreciation for what a consummate artist he is as an arranger, a composer, a lyricist and a musician.I wanted to convey a much deeper understanding of the mastery that produced this record and we did that.Q: How did the reunion concert come about?A: I had suggested to Paul that if he was going back to South Africa then we should reunite all the musicians and do a concert.For that to happen so quickly considering the schedules of superstars like Ray Phiri, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Hugh Masekela says a lot about how people who were involved in the Graceland experience hold it so near and dear to their heart.Q: Tell us about Paul’s conversation in the film with Dali Tambo.A: It was very important for me to get an interview with Dali Tambo because he was one of Paul’s harshest critics and the son of the late exiled ANC President Oliver Tambo.During my initial interview with Dali I suggested the sit down with Paul (they had never met before) and that happened the very next morning.You really feel how spontaneous it all was in the film and it was a great device to thread that conversation throughout the movie.I think it really kicks the film up a couple of levels. It’s a great, brilliant, spontaneous conversation that really makes the film work.Q: How do you feel about the overwhelmingly positive audience reactions to ‘Under African Skies’?A: I spent two decades documenting one of the most harrowing miscarriages of justice you can imagine with the West Memphis Three trilogy.I made a film called ‘Gray Matter’, about the murder of handicapped children during the Nazi regime.I’ve made very serious films about bleak social issues like pollution in the Amazon with my movie ‘Crude’.I’m used to people wanting to slit their wrists by the end of my movies because of their bleak view of the human condition. The fact that this is such a crowd pleaser is actually a new experience for me.I received such joy from ‘Graceland’ and from observing Paul and the musicians in South Africa as they rehearsed and performed.To share that musical and human joy with an audience to the point where at the end of the film at Sundance people were clapping and singing along and staying in their seats as the end credits rolled was an amazing experience.Q: What do you hope audiences take from ‘Under African Skies’?A: I want the audience to go on this ride of understanding that, at the end of the day, in my opinion, art triumphs politics. The very culture that apartheid was trying to extinguish is what Paul Simon was putting on display to the world.As Paul says in the film, intellectually, obviously, people knew that apartheid was wrong.But ‘Graceland’ was one of many tools that allowed people to connect to that idea emotionally.And when you have an emotional connection to an idea, it’s much more persuasive.Under African Skies screens Friday at 8.15pm at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.Tickets, $15, are available at www.bdatix.bm, at All Wrapped Up in the Washington Mall and Fabulous Fashions at Heron Bay Plaza, or by calling 232-2255.