Emirati films through the lens of time

Its history is short and its audience small, so what is the future for Emirati cinema? Can it be a commercial success? Saoud Almulla has a doctorate in filmmaking and some strong ideas.

Saoud Almulla has worked in higher education for more than a decade, but has always had a love for films. When choosing his doctorate, it was only natural he focused on UAE filmmaking, history and cultural identity.

“A big part of it,” he says, “was to do with documenting the history, and it was very challenging because we don’t have many references here in the UAE.”

“Everything you do is new. You have to start from scratch. You have to create the references yourself.”

Fortunately, Masoud Al Ali, cofounder of the Emirates Film Competition, realised very early on “how important it was to document”. His archives proved invaluable in Dr Almulla’s research, which was completed in 2013.

Sitting in his office at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai, Dr Almulla speaks about the origins of the Emirati film industry, although he concedes that “industry” may be too strong a term.

“I was very close to the people who started this movement in 2002. I knew them all,” he says.

Dr Almulla studied film and television production at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has worked in film. But despite his personal interest, he was always aware that “a PhD in filmmaking in the UAE is not really something that people perceive well”.

“They get surprised. ‘Why are you doing films? We don’t have a film industry here’,” he says. “But it’s not really about the film industry. If you look at my PhD, it’s mainly to do with cultural identity: how is the UAE’s culture and the national character represented in these films?”

He also analysed whether filmmaking was seen as an appropriate form of expression for the UAE.

In general, the public sees cinema as a foreign medium, “someone else’s”, because most films they see come from Hollywood, Bollywood and Egypt.

Filmmakers see it for what it is – a platform for self-expression through which they can promote their culture and society.

Dr Almulla’s doctorate focused predominantly on short films in the UAE, which today “participate in almost all the film festivals in the world”.

Despite such progress, however, the reality is that the Emirati feature film, made for Emiratis, is far from being commercially viable. The country’s population is less than 10 million, and Emiratis constitute less than 15 per cent of this.

As a rule of thumb, feature films need to earn double their budget at the box office to break even.

This reality has pushed filmmakers to expand the scope of their films, thus diluting certain cultural aspects, to appeal to both a domestic and international audience.

"Looking at Sea Shadow and City of Life, they did not generate any profits for the producers although they were well received. Many people watched the films but still they did not make any profit," Mr Almulla says.

“So commercially they were not feasible, and I think that filmmakers and producers now have to think about expanding the range, perhaps to the Arabian Gulf countries and the other Arab countries as well.”

This will need a “huge and massive advertising machine”, just like Hollywood’s. “Otherwise, they will not succeed.”

But if the future of Emirati cinema means cultural and social diversification, its past was very much rooted in tradition. The first Emirati filmmakers were poets, says Dr Almulla.

“You can tell from the style, from the directing, the script and the scenarios. It was all influenced by poetry,” he says. “I think the directors were trying to transform their art into a visual art.”

By the millennium, within just a generation, Emirati life had grown entirely unrecognisable and this was not lost on the pioneering poets-turned-filmmakers.

“They were trying to reinforce their identity,” says Dr Almulla. “I guess it was a way of saying ‘This is the Emirati culture, this is what it looked like’.”

Unlike poetry, visual forms of expression were generally speaking historically rejected by the Islamic Arab World, adds Mr Almulla. “No painting; no photography; no sculpting – none of that.”

Not only was it impractical for nomads to create visual arts amid the harsh desert environment, but it was also taboo. “Sculptures and paintings, and depiction of people was associated with worshipping of idols,” says Dr Almulla.

It is only relatively recently that such views have changed. Sometime in the 1940s or 1950s, he says, an Iraqi man arrived in Sharjah with small, mysterious boxes that would show moving images when wound up.

“People protested,” says Mr Almulla.

“They said this guy was showing some sort of magic, so they reported him to the Sheikh, and the Sheikh said he had to leave.”

In another incident, a famous Ras Al Khaimah photographer returned home to find his wife had burnt all his negatives – because angels would not enter a house containing images of people.

The first cinema in the UAE was the Royal Air Force Cinema, at Al Mahatta, Sharjah – opened in 1948.

“It was mainly opened to entertain the soldiers: it wasn’t for the community or the society.”

The cinemas that came later, in the 60s, 70s and 80s, mainly served the foreign residents of the UAE.

“People didn’t even know what a cinema was – I think it brought surprise and shock to them when they first saw the cinema. Bear in mind, at the time they didn’t even have a toilet,” he says.

“I think every new technology that came here created the same shock. When the first radio came, people were surprised – ‘a metal that can talk’: that’s what they called it.”

Once Emiratis had learnt to embrace Hollywood and Bollywood, the Government realised cinema was a viable investment opportunity, and an outlet to promote the country.

“They established ImageNation, as we all know, and suddenly we had three major film festivals in the country.

“It’s not easy to create a film industry: it’s challenging, because of the obvious competition from Hollywood. It dominates not only UAE cinema, but many countries around the world.”

Along with Hollywood and Bollywood, Egypt has dominated Arab television, says Dr Almulla. “Their dramas have been to every house in the Gulf, so we are familiar with their accents, their culture, their society.”

However, Egyptian cinema is on the decline, and most productions tend to be commercial, slapstick comedies with little artistic merit, he says.

The UAE's culture, on the other hand, has not had the same exposure, and its intricacies could be difficult for other nationalities to grasp. Dr Almulla believes UAE cinema must succeed locally first, for them to be exported. "I think the way things are happening now – we have Image Nation funding an Emirati film or two every year – I think it's a good thing. They keep experimenting, they keep producing films and trying to screen them in the UAE and in the Arabian Gulf states." Sea Shadow, for example, was also released in Kuwait and Bahrain.

While the UAE’s investment in Hollywood productions is primarily financial in motive, he sees it as an opportunity to help local talent.

“They expect a return on it, but it’s also an opportunity to place our Emirati directors there, expose them, help them gain experience from these massive productions, and who knows? At some point, maybe they will have influence on these films as co-producers.”

As well as the few large productions, Emirati filmmakers are also experimenting, with some working on art house and avant-garde productions. “However, we all know these kinds of movies do not appeal to the audience – you cannot produce an art film and then expect the audience to understand it and come and see it. I think that this is an international thing, all the directors in the world know that. It’s a limited audience: most likely a festival audience.”

Personally, Dr Almulla believes that film is an excellent form of expression and a powerful tool to promote the UAE’s cultural identity.

Speaking of his favourite Emirati films, he says: “I think one of the great ones is Sabeel, by Khalid Al Mahmood, and also Bint Mariam, by Saeed Salmeen Al Murry. These two stand out for me.”

Ironically, he does not go to the cinema, because he prefers international, non-commercial films. "A good one is Turtles Can Fly. It's set in Kurdistan, in north Iraq. It's a very interesting film by a Kurdish director. A brilliant, excellent film."

Dr Almulla made a documentary to accompany his doctorate, featuring behind-the-scenes looks at filmmaking, and interviews with Emirati filmmakers, festival organisers and officials.

“There is a plan to try to re-edit it, so it’s suitable for maybe a film festival – and try to submit it to a film festival in the future.”

halbustani@thenational.ae