Ali F Mostafa has been a tough man to track down these past few weeks. The director of 2009's City of Life is no stranger to the spotlight, but the buzz around the Emirati filmmaker has been palpable since the announcement that his second movie, From A to B, would be the first Emirati movie to open the Abu Dhabi Film Festival on Thursday, October 23.
Things shifted up a further gear when it was revealed that the regional media giant Rotana had bought the television rights to the film before it had even been seen in public.
All of this, of course, was happening while Mostafa was still trying to put the finishing touches to the movie, backed and marketed by Image Nation, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media which also owns The National.
The director, usually not publicity shy given his numerous brand ambassadorships for the likes of Alfred Dunhill and Range Rover, admits that this time, the media glare has been unlike anything he has experienced.
"There's been so much interest from all around the world," he says. "I did a CNN interview yesterday, which I haven't done before. I had some of this media attention with City of Life, when it was the first Emirati film to get a gala screening at DIFF [Dubai International Film Festival], but I didn't have a PR or marketing team as such, so it was just me receiving pics on my phone saying 'I saw you in the paper,' or seeing stuff myself accidentally.
“Now I’m getting regular reports on what’s happening and it’s a lot more organised. It’s a different experience and there’s a lot of really positive attention.”
The significance of opening the festival doesn’t seem to have put undue pressure on Mostafa, however. At least not in terms of making his film.
“I don’t feel pressure when I’m making a film,” he says. “I’m most comfortable when I’m making a film. The pressure comes after, when you have to face the press.
“My comfort zone is on set, behind the camera, so it’s building up to knowing that you’re going to be the centre of attention where it gets a little bit daunting. At the same time, we’re full of pride and I’m going to be walking down that red carpet representing every Emirati filmmaker, not just myself.”
In fact, the director seems remarkably calm about the whole production process. The cast, for example, features the likes of the Oscar-nominated Omar star Leem Lubany, the top comedians Fahad Albutairi, Shadi Alfons and Wonho Chung, plus appearances from the Golden Globe-winner Ali Suliman, the Woody Allen collaborator Madeline Zima and the Egyptian cinema giant Khaled Abol Naga.
“To me, an actor is extremely important, whoever they are, and you have to respect their craft and treat them with the same respect they would treat me,” he says. “They’re a piston in the engine that makes this thing happen – whether they’re big or small. I’d treat someone who’s on screen for two minutes the same as the lead.
“At the end of the day, you have to be comfortable in your surroundings. Some sets are very serious but we were trying to keep the film light. We had a lower budget, a small crew, and at the end of every shoot we’d all hang out. We didn’t have the budget for a trailer each, so we all hung out in one trailer. We were like a family on a nice holiday.”
It sounds idyllic, but surely there were moments that were slightly less like an episode of The Waltons?
“I’m probably making it sound easier than it was,” says Mostafa. “There were tricky moments. We had a situation where one of our sets collapsed during a shamal in the desert. That was scary. It could have been much worse than it was, but everyone came out OK.
“Even in terms of casting, it was tough. The lead actor, Fadi Rifaai, was cast three days before we started principal photography. We’d been trying for months to find the right actor and we managed it with just three days to spare.”
I ask Mostafa how it feels to him personally – as an Emirati and a director – to have been granted the honour of opening this year’s festival.
"To be honest – I know it may sound like a PR thing – but my mission as a director ever since City of Life was to try to help to build the industry because it just did not exist," he says.
“So when I hear an Emirati film, mine or someone else’s, is opening up a festival, it is truly a testament to how the industry is growing.
“At the same time people say: ‘Isn’t it a challenge that they selected your film over an international film?’ And so on and well, maybe it is, but it’s a challenge I’m up for.”
• Catch From A to B at Vox Cinemas, Marina Mall on Friday, October 24 at 8.45pm and on November 1 at 9.15pm
cnewbould@thenational.ae
