“I am a child of Dubai. But if I don’t speak up, change won’t happen,” said Marwan Abdullah, while expressing his thoughts on the current Middle Eastern film landscape and suggestions for improving it.
We sat down with the Emirati TV actor and social media star, who is also about to make his big-screen debut in Mohammad Saeed Harib’s comedy Rashid & Rajab. He was at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) as one of the five Screen International Arab Stars of Tomorrow, a programme aimed at bringing rising talents into the spotlight.
While thanking the Dubai government and the festival, he urged for their continued support for developing Arab cinema.
Fatigue on content focusing on negative issues
Abdullah believes that Arab cinema focuses too much on issues like terrorism, the refugee crisis, and the negativities in life, leading to audience fatigue. While film is a powerful medium to voice out these concerns, “there’s enough of that in the news already,” he says. “People need theatre and films to forget about their daily life problems.”
Lack of content representing the actual lifestyle
While there is content being made with the support of the Dubai government, Diff, and initiatives like the IWC Filmmaker Award, most of them do not focus on the actual lifestyle of people in the Emirates (or the Arab world), according to Abdullah. The actor links it to why the western world may sometimes perceive the Middle East negatively.
“There are a lot of stories here, but no one really taps into it,” he said.
Reliance on western content/talent for glamour
Western blockbusters like Fast & Furious, Mission Impossible, and Star Wars used the UAE as their production location “but didn’t tap into the talent pool”. Even at Diff, of the 15 gala screenings, only one (Induced Labor) is Arabic. While opportunities are being created, most of them are given to western content, which can easily find distribution, he says — like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which releases in cinemas the day after its Diff gala on December 13. Perhaps, festivals like Diff may be the best platform to positively change the landscape of Arab cinema.
— The Young Journalist Award (YJA) at Diff is a training programme for high school and university students who are aspiring writers and reporters. Seven students are competing at the festival this year. One winner will secure a monthlong internship with Gulf News.
