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?”

Original article by Hareth Al Bustani

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Emirati films through the lens of time