It's been an eventful 14 months since Teta, Alf Marra (Grandma, a Thousand Times) was screened at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in October 2010. How has the journey been?
It's been both fortuitous and overwhelming at the same time. Teta, Alf Marra has taken me to 20 cities. I've been living out of a suitcase for almost a year now. This is the first time I've had three weeks in a row at home, but at the end of January I travel to again to Helsinki. It's been a humbling experience, but more than anything it's been vindicating - that a story so intimate, so personal, could touch so many people. I have met people so far away from here, from a completely different culture, who have told me how much this film made them remember their grandmothers. When did you realise that you were onto something, that this documentary was going to be something bigger than you had imagined?
We, at Veritas Films, had gone into the Doha Tribeca secretly thinking that the film was special - so when it went on win two awards, we were overjoyed. And then months later we won at Dox Box, Damascus and then the awards started to follow. By the time we won the Best Film at the London International Documentary Film Festival we were overwhelmed. And then winning in Mumbai again was fantastic - Mumbai and London are two completely different cultures from here. That really made it special.
Abu Dhabi has slowly emerged as a movie-making hub in the region. Do you see this as the start of many bright things in the UAE?
Yes, definitely. We were the fifth company to move into twofour54 because we could see the potential there. Hopefully, with Teta, Alf Marra we've dug a channel for other film-makers in the region to flow their creativity. After all, this was the first film from the UAE to win internationally at this level. So far, all the attention in the region has been on Arab fiction. Hopefully, this will change that.
Is there a paucity of documentary films in the region?
There are Lebanese documentary films, but they are mostly released within Lebanon. The DVD release of Teta, Alf Marra is across eight Arab countries. This is great news for the region. Now content created in Abu Dhabi is actually going out to other cultures. It's always been the other way around.
So, what's next?
I'm going to start shooting my next documentary film in June this year. Titled The Champ of the Camp - it follows three contestants in a Bollywood singing competition held annually in the UAE's labour camps. It follows them as they go through the various stages and compete at the national level. The idea is to present Bollywood music in a completely new light - about how it provides solace to a set of people who don't really have it easy here.
What's the best compliment you have received about Teta, Alf Marra?
After the screening at the Doha Tribeca, my grandmother turned and said, "I felt like I was in heaven looking down at my own life". That was poetic, especially coming from a 83 year-old woman who's never been to college. (The DVD of ‘Teta, Alf Marra' is now available at Virgin Megastores)
Quickfire
- If I wasn't doing this, I would be a food critic, that's my retirement plan.
- A person who's had a big influence on my life is my grandfather. A famous violinist, I managed to restore his music and use it on the soundtrack of my film.
- A fictional character after my own heart Homer Simpson.
- A word or expression that I use a lot Ach Ja! That's like saying ‘really' in German.
- Stuff that I always travel with incense sticks and a candle. They can make any hotel room feel like home.
