Entertainment | Film & Cinema
Poor Show
Gulf filmmakers come under attack for badly made movies and lack of originality
- By Shireena Al Nowais, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:53 March 6, 2008
- Moustafa Zakaria, winner of the Emirates Film Festival for best movie and special effect receives his award from Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazroui, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, and Naser Al Dhahiri, one of the judges, during their Award Ceremony at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
- Image Credit: Abdul Rahman/Gulf News
The Emirates Film Competition made history this week not by their movies but by boldly lashing out at UAE and Gulf filmmakers calling their movies amateur, redundant and deeming most of them unworthy of a prize.
At the closing ceremony of the Emirates Film Festival, at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage on Tuesday, jury members finally spoke up by saying that most of the films did not deserve a prize and were not up to standard.
Infuriated
Jury members were infuriated by the quality of films that were submitted and many categories were simply omitted because the submissions were plainly below par.
These comments were made immediately after an almost two-hour Oscar-nominated documentary by Charles Ferguson on the chaos in Iraq. No End in Sight looks at the role of the Bush Administration in the destruction of Iraq. According to Ferguson's documentary, ill-advised decisions led to the deaths of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.
As if the movie wasn't depressing enough, it was followed by comments from jury member Nujoom Al Ghanem that many prizes would not be given out because the quality of films were below standard.
Speaking to tabloid!, Abdulla Al Bastaki, Director of Emirates Film Competition, spoke of his disappointment at the quality of submissions.
"In 10 years we have not had a single movie that reached international festivals,'' he said.
He said for years jury members have reluctantly given away prizes to boost the morale of filmmakers. But this year's jury, made up of professional experienced filmmakers, would hear nothing of it.
‘Frenzy'
"It's all a media and festival frenzy. The media sees the films and pump so much into these amateur filmmakers, making them believe that they are the greatest, when they are not,'' he added.
The problem with the films of most UAE and Gulf film makers, he said, was that they were too much like television.
"I haven't seen proper cinematic scripts… the lighting, acting and scripts are too much like television. Most of the ideas are dull and repetitive. For example, anti-smoking, that is repetitive. We are looking for originality.''
While some might find the comments made during the closing ceremony harsh, Al Bastaki says this is exactly what filmmakers need to improve and upgrade themselves.
‘Honest Opinions'
"These are honest opinions for the people by the people,'' he said.
But Al Bastaki and jury members agree that the problem is deeper than just improving the films. It calls for a complete change in the education system and the public's understanding of cinema.
This lack of appreciation of UAE and Gulf films was evident in the low turn out of people during the competition. Jury member Nujoom said that educational institutions should find programmes, curriculums and trainers to enhance the artistic capabilities of their students. She also asked that all educational institutions support the cinematic industry
financially, and conduct workshops and programmes in this specific area.
Cancelled awards
More than Dh1 million in cash prizes were due to be given out to the winners of the Emirates Film Competition. But because of poor submissions, only Dh265,000 worth of cash prizes were awarded. Also, 10 out of 24 prize categories were removed despite a rise in the number of entrants. Another new category or award that the organisers had been enthusiastic about were the Grant Awards of Dh250,000, Dh150,000 and Dh100,000 for best film idea, completed screenplay or project currently in pre-production for a feature length film. This was also removed due to the lack of any original ideas.
Awards went to:
Best Gulf Poster Design (student): Mohammad Al Shaibani
Best Poster (general): Hafez Media
Best Special Effects (student): Moustafa Zakaria
Best Actor (student): Aisha Ebrahim
Best Actor (student): Moustafa Zakaria
Best Actor (general): Ghanem Nasser
Best Scriptwriter for short film (general): Souad Al Serkal and Ebrahim Abdulla
Jury Prize for Best film (student): Samantha Abdul Aziz
Best UAE short documentary (student): Nasser Jaber
Best UAE short fiction (student): Moustafa Zakaria
Best UAE short fiction film (general): Moath Bin Hafez
Best UAE short fiction film (general): Farid Al Khajah
Best Gulf fiction film (general): Moussa Jaafar
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