UAE Film scene

REPORT

HOme Cinema As the curtain falls on the Abu Dhabi film Fest and Dubai’s offering is about to get under way, Edgar takes stock of the local filmmaking landscape

by Matthew Priest

T

om Cruise’s vertigo-inducing climb up Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is arguably the most famous depiction of Dubai in the world of cinema. While it showed the rest of the world the startlingly impressive infrastructure that the city has built, for the UAE film industry it was the moment the penny dropped.

In the two years that have passed the Dubai Film and TV Commission (DFTC) has facilitated many notable cinematic productions in the city – ranging from Hollywood to Bollywood and even Chinese-produced films – confirming the emirate’s growing status as a production location favoured by filmmakers around the world.

But what of the local filmmakers? Where are the homegrown equivalents to Scorsese, Spielberg and Eastwood?

“The idea of an Emirati filmmaker is still a relatively new one, and it is a perspective that people have rarely seen on the big screen,” says Mustafa Abbas an award-winning local filmmaker.

“If we go back five or six years, there was a huge hunger to create a local film industry, but there were only a handful of us who were actually pushing to actually make films,” says Abbas, who at only 28 years old is already considered one of the forefathers of the UAE film industry. His short career has already seen him win praise for his low-budget independent short film 100 Miles and having another of his films The Alley screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

“Because Dubai is such an international city, it is a great platform for filmmakers. They can pretty much use it as a basis to tell the story of many different cultures. What is unique to a local filmmaker is that they can frame that story through the eyes of an Emirati, and that isn’t something that we have seen very much of.”

Jason Larkin/arabianEye/Corbis

‘‘The idea of an emirati filmmaker is relatively new. it is a perspective rarely seen on the big screen’’

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REPORT Left: Tom Cruise hangs off the Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Left and below: Scenes from Ali Mustafa’s film City of Life

But while international studios are starting to get wise to the UAE’s competitive production costs – including Abu Dhabi’s appealing 30 per cent rebate scheme – and infrastructure as a backdrop for their huge budget feature films, actual locally generated equivalents are still few and far between.

“What’s important to remember is that because we are the first generation of local filmmakers, there are no guidelines or rules in place for the industry to operate from,” explains Ali Mustafa, the director of the critically acclaimed 2009 film City of Life, which is widely credited as the first feature-lenght film wholly filmed and produced in the UAE. “Like us, the industry is so new that the authorities and the institutes are learning as they go along. In a way we are helping each other, and it is very exciting, but it is also very stressful as we have to go through all of the drama that needs to be done to make it easier on those filmmakers who will come after us.”

And it is these growing pains that Mustafa, unfortunately, knows a lot about.

Following on from his award-winning debut feature in 2009, Mustafa became the face of the bright, creative future of the UAE film industry – he even picked up a Best Emirati Filmmaker gong at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2007. However, his long awaited follow-up film A to B – a drama-comedy following three young Arab expats who undertake a road trip from their home city of Abu Dhabi to Beirut – has since been besieged by production issues and despite the backing from both the Abu Dhabi-financed media hub TwoFour54 and the Cannes Film Festival, problems continue to plague the film.

“Yes, at first there was a lot of pressure to follow up the success of City of Life, but I’m over it now and I am just eager to make the next one,” explains Mustafa. “At times it has been immensely frustrating. When I made City of Life it took about two years for the script to get approval from the authorities, but with A to B it was a lot quicker. In fact, it turned out to the be the easiest bit! That is certainly an area where I feel that the industry has taken a giant step forward.

“But after that initial success we’ve since hit obstacle after obstacle when it comes to all other aspects of the process such

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as funding, filming rights and distribution,” he admits with a sigh.

“It’s frustrating because I have become the City of Life guy, but I want to prove that I am not a one-hit wonder,” says Mustafa. “I’ve worked so hard to try get the next film made – I’ve put nearly four years work into it – and only now are we nearing the stage where it is about to be green-lighted [Editor: shooting is scheduled to take place in February 2014].”

Filmmakers around the world will be sympathetic to Mustafa’s current plight, because regardless of where you are the fact remains that making a film is not an easy process, especially in country where the industry is still in its infancy. But things are starting to change.

At a more grass-roots level, the advent of new technology has meant that professional-level equipment such as high-definition cameras and editing software is now widely available – and

Rex Features

Below: A scene from Mustafa Abbas’ soon to be released film Sunset State

more importantly, affordable – which in the UAE has seen a large bump in the number of people making short-films. This is due – in no small part – to more and more support from various state supported institutions and film festivals.

One of the most committed of these institutions is the TwoFour54-owned Creative Lab. Offering support and financing for individuals across the Arab media and entertainment industries, Creative Lab was set up to assist the region’s aspiring filmmakers and in turn help create an ambitious, independent media industry.

With the imminent release of his next film Sunset State – a 20-minute film about two neighbours with troubled pasts living in Abu Dhabi – Mustafa Abbas has witnessed first hand the impact that Creative Lab has had on the industry and is one of its biggest supporters.

“Creative Lab is, hands down, the greatest thing that has happened to the filmmaking industry in the Middle East. They offer up-and-coming filmmakers access to funding, production and distribution, which they may not have had. It is the kind of support that a full-on production company offers,” says Abbas.

“With a company like Creative Lab helping take so much of the workload off my shoulders, it allows me to spend less time searching for funding, submitting to film festivals etc. and more time concentrating on what I am passionate about: telling stories.”

The issue of government control still remains a key point in the region’s creative circles. Wary to avoid causing offense to the country, the authorities require filmmakers to submit their scripts for approval. But do the filmmakers believe that this aspect is having an affect on their industry?

“A great surprise for me was how quickly the script for A to B – which I believe pushes the envelop a bit further than City of Life did – was approved. For me that is a great sign that things are evolving,” says Mustafa. “But at the moment it is a Catch 22 situation. I think things will start to change as other parts of the process evolve, but the only way to do that is to continue making more films. People are not going to know, unless they start seeing results, and that isn’t going to happen until we start producing them.

“In my experience, it seems that things progress in leaps that are then followed by long plateaus. Although I am hoping that in the next couple of years, we will get two feature films per year coming from the UAE – and if that happens, that would be fantastic,” says Mustafa. “Although two films per year, does not constitute as a film industry!” he adds with a laugh.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love what I’m doing and would rather be doing what I’m doing now knowing that in 10 to 15 years time I can sit back and say that we were part of making all of it happen,” concludes Mustafa.

Perhaps that is it. The local film industry is still in its infancy, The current crop of filmmakers like Abbas and Mustafa are helping to lay the foundations for what is to come.

They are the trailblazers. Only through their successes and struggles will the next generation of talent be able to develop and break new ground and help to create an industry that is on par with other countries – if not better.

As for the local equivalents to Scorsese and Eastwood? Well, give it a few years and you might just be looking at them, punk.

Made in the UAE

Five films that have been/will be shot in The Emirates Syriana (2005) George Clooney’s geopolitical oil-based thriller was (partially) shot in Dubai City of Life (2009) The first English-language film to be wholly filmed and produced in Dubai.

Mission Impossible (2011) Tom Cruise’s save-the-world-from-nearly-certain-destruction actioner.

Switch (2013) Chinese actioner front and directed by hotshot actor Andy Lau Fast & Furious 7 (2014*) Vin Diesel’s motley crew will be filming the franchises latest installment on the streets of Abu Dhabi

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