Why the UAE didn’t send a film to the Oscars

The UAE made history in 2017 when it became qualified to send a film to be considered for an Academy Award nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

A 14-member committee met for the first time in August to begin deliberations, but could not come to a unanimous decision on which film to choose.

“We want to make sure that the first film we send really has the standard to talk to an international audience. We don’t have to be emotional about this. Just because we have the chance to, it doesn’t mean we should [just] send any film,” said Abdul Hamid Juma, chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival.

Juma’s personal biggest nightmare is to send a subpar film for consideration and attract an international audience, only to leave them disappointed or disillusioned with the potential of UAE cinema.

“I’m not saying [the films are] that bad. But we want to set the bar high,” said Juma.

“We could not agree on which one to send. We had two that we thought could represent us — but we could not as a group agree which one. At the end of the day, we have to take a vote. That’s really why,” he added.