t’s been a long time coming – we first reported on the City of Life director Ali F Mostafa’s second feature From A to B two years ago – but with Image Nation now on board to complete the film’s line-up of co-producers, shooting has finally started in Abu Dhabi, with the crew set to head off on location across the region over the course of the five-week shoot.
We caught up with Mostafa and his team on set to find out what had finally kick-started the production.
“I thought we’d get into production two years ago,” Mostafa admits. “But, finally, we’re here. The film was originally a twofour54 development, and they were funding the first 50 per cent. I had a private investor, but still needed more. Image Nation [which is owned by The National’s parent company Abu Dhabi Media] heard about the project and we had a meeting, found we shared the same views and partnered up. You’d expect it to be easier to get your film into production the second time round, but that’s just the name of the game in movies. You could be Scorsese with your own script and it could still take years to make it. However recognised you are, luck and fate has a lot to do with it. Timing is everything and it just happened that at the start of this year, the planets finally aligned.”
The film is essentially a road movie following the exploits of a group of expat Arab friends who decide to take a road trip from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in honour of their dead friend who always wanted to make the trip. In true road-trip style, what should be a two-day trip at most stretches out to five days with plenty of drama and adventure along the way.
“It’s all about the character arc they go through due to events on the road,” says Mostafa. “The trip helps them as friends as well as people. It’s a comedy with a human story that’s also a drama, so a dramedy, kind of an Arab Sideways.”
The nature of the film’s narrative means the crew will be shooting all across the region, though for obvious reasons the scenes crossing Syria will be shot elsewhere, alongside the Saudi ones.
“We have some great locations and the look of the film is phenomenal,” says Mostafa. “We have the modern style and the fantastic architecture in Abu Dhabi, then the remote areas, desert and dunes of Saudi, the ancient historical wonders of Jordan, war-torn Syria and, finally, urban Beirut. It’s visually stunning.”
The cast is big news, too. Two of the three leads will be familiar names to many viewers – the Saudi comedian Fahad Al Butairi is a YouTube and Twitter sensation with more than a million followers, while Shadi Alfons is a writer on the Middle East-wide sensation that is Bassem Youssef’s show. The third lead, Fadi Rifaai, is a new talent who Mostafa thinks is headed for big things. “He auditioned just a couple of days before shooting was due to begin and was so talented that we took him on straight away,” Mostafa says.
The three are backed by a phenomenal supporting cast, with the likes of the Egyptian legend Khaled Abol Naga and Omar’s Leem Lubany making appearances en route.
Mostafa is a well-known hip-hop fan and the film’s soundtrack will reflect that, with Dany Neville set to appear DJing in the Beirut scenes, although despite having talked to hip-hop stars such as Lowkey and The Narcicyst (who starred in City of Life) about appearing in the film, they haven’t made it to the final cut.
“Yeah, I did talk to those guys, but that was years ago,” he explains. “Sometimes as time goes by you start finding people that might suit the role better. It was an idea we had, but nothing was confirmed. Those guys are all my friends and, God bless them, but it just wasn’t right for this one.”
With Fast & Furious 7 now shooting in Abu Dhabi, too, it’s a busy month for the capital’s film industry, but the arrival of the Hollywood giant brought an unexpected hurdle for Mostafa’s team.
“There was this one location we wanted and they kept saying: ‘No, no, no,’ and we kept asking: ‘Why, why, why?’ They said: ‘We don’t want cars flipping and crashing and racing in our location.’ I said: ‘I think you’re talking about the wrong movie – we’re not Fast & Furious’ – and we got it.”
Building the local industry is more complicated than you might think, it seems. Sadly, Mostafa won’t be able to raise it with the FF7 team while they’re here – he’d already packed up and headed off to shoot in Jordan .
cnewbould@thenational.ae
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin
Favourite film: Marvel movies
Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
RACE CARD
6.30pm Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200
7.05pm Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
7.40pm Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
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9.25pm Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 2,000m
The National selections:
6.30pm Underwriter
7.05pm Rayig
7.40pm Torno Subito
8.15pm Talento Puma
8.50pm Etisalat
9.25pm Gundogdu
RESULTS
6.30pm Handicap (TB) US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
7.05pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,410m
Winner: Walton Street, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Switzerland, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.15pm Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner Lord Giltters, Adrie de Vries, David O’Meara
8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm Al Fahidi Fort Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Land Of Legends, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
10pm Dubai Dash Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,000m
Winner Equilateral, Frankie Dettori, Charles Hills.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)
Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
EA Sports FC 25
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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