Time for a new take

It has been a busy time for cinema buffs in the Gulf, with two film festivals in the space of two weeks. But the pace isn't slackening as Dubai hosts another one next month. So with Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai now joining older and — these days — smaller festivals in Cairo, Beirut and Marrakesh, the obvious question needs to be asked: Why?

We don't really need three film festivals within two months, all within 300 kilometres of each other. I am not sure these festivals offer an amount of originality and diversity in terms of film to justify their number and existence.

Film indeed is a great medium for starting dialogues between cultures, particularly independent ones which focus on real-life issues. The difference between indie films and their Hollywood, Bollywood or even mainstream Egyptian counterparts is that in the former there is no fixed formula for how the film should be made. While big-budget films usually have a certain formula regarding events, climax, effects and ending, independent films can be very unpredictable and unusual and thus leave viewers to think for themselves. They can be entertaining, too, but their intelligence and unpredictability usually give them a higher artistic value and they are closer to reality. These films can bridge a gap, as they show differences but also universal themes that everyone can relate to.

In the GCC countries where the expat community is one of the most varied in the world, bridging cultures might seem like a natural evolution. However, further proof that this is not the case is found when attending the screening of an Arabic film in one of the festivals only to realise that most of the audience is Arab. Same goes for Indians attending Indian film screenings and Britons attending a film from their country.

While there is nothing wrong with this, it indicates that in general there is no interest for people of a certain culture to watch films other than their own. This is what, it seems till now, these film festivals are failing to do. They might have an intention, but the audiences they are addressing don't seem that keen. These festivals don't seem to exist for a matter of demand after all.

Perhaps one of the most surprising (and questionable) aspects of these festivals is the repetition of many of the films screened. Every year there seems to be at least a few overlaps in films and even red-carpet appearances. For example, many films shown at this year's Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) were shown at the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) less than two weeks earlier. Among the repetitions were the Tunisian Buried Secrets, Palestinian The Time that Remains, two Iranian films About Elly and No One Knows About Persian Cats, Egyptian Scheherazade Tell me a Story and Hollywood's The September Issue and The Informant.

Perhaps what is more questionable is the screening of some Arab films this year in Doha which were shown a year or a couple of years ago in Dubai. Particularly Najwa Najjar's Pomegranates and Myrrh, shown at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in 2008, and the Jordanian Captain Abu Raed (shown at the DIFF in 2007).

This lack of variety in film choices and the amount of repetition and screening of older films (especially when it comes to Arab films due to limited productions) make the efforts of these three film festivals of the region seem more like an attempt to get publicity rather than reflect the organisers' genuine interest in cinema.

This, however, is not a call for these events to cease to exist but rather an incentive to show more variety, perhaps less mainstream films and more genuinely interesting films that would benefit from the publicity in the festival. The festivals are opportunities to see what is beyond Hollywood and Bollywood. However, one might wonder what the benefit of these festivals is for filmmakers, especially newcomers from the GCC.

One of the best features of these events is their ability to publicise and showcase new talents and even set them up with possible financiers for their new projects. The DIFF's Dubai Film Connection is one of these schemes. For the past two years, it had helped fund 33 chosen projects of upcoming Arab filmmakers which could only be a good thing given the shortage of other funding options.

While funding is definitely a good thing, especially for new talent, a higher budget does not always imply a better film. In fact the whole point of independent cinema is operating on a limited budget and the focus is on making the best with what you have.

An illustration of this is probably one of the best films shown during last year's DIFF, an Egyptian feature titled Eye of the Sun by Ebrahim Al Batout, which cost him a mere $3,000 to make (excluding post-production costs). The film was very simple yet extremely touching and proved that when one has a great idea and great talent, filmmaking is not about cost.

Reserved for blockbusters

But despite being a great film, Al Batout's film was screened in one of the cinemas where the director was present and happy to answer his audience afterwards. At the same festival in 2008, the opening gala was reserved for Oliver Stones's W., a film based on George W. Bush.

That was not the only year when the red carpet and opening gala screenings were reserved for big Hollywood blockbusters which had been shown long before in other international film festivals such as Cannes.

It is a good thing to see a good Hollywood film once in a while, but the fact that it was given such an honour at the expense of regional or lesser-known films (which in many cases are premiered in Dubai) makes one wonder whether the objective of these events is indeed "bridging cultures" and "showcasing regional talents" or just looking for publicity and jamming in as many international celebrities per event as possible. This year's MEIFF in Abu Dhabi was no exception regarding celebrity sightings and choices for opening screenings. While departing from the usual Hollywood opening gala films, this year the MEIFF has chosen an Egyptian film, The Traveller, by Ahmad Maher to be screened on the opening day.

However, Maher's feature was a big budget mainstream, one in which the cast included Omar Sharif. While it is definitely a welcome step to screen a regional film as the opener, it appears that the choice was based on celebrity power as Sharif starred in the film. As a contender to The Traveller, another Arabic film was a possible choice to be an opener. It was Mohammad Al Daraji's Son of Babylon which ended up being shown the next day and made a great impression on the audience.

It was rumoured that the organisers came under fire for their choice of The Traveller over Son of Babylon as the opener since the latter was also a world premiere and got rave reviews from almost everyone who saw it.

Films such as Son of Babylon and Eye of the Sun were among the best films shown during the past four years of these festivals in the UAE.

They were both Arabic, too. They showed great directing talent, effortless acting, stunning cinematography and, most importantly, a moving and original storyline.

It was these film festivals which gave us the opportunity to see these films but there seems to be very few of their like in terms of quality. Most of the films were a mixture of Hollywood blockbusters, low-quality and often repetitive Arabic films and some international gems from Europe, Africa and Asia which end up being screened in an almost empty hall.

The question is: Are these film festivals trying to cater to all tastes at the same time? Is it more important for them to be popular and glamorous than to promote the less known, more interesting films that need this desperately?

Taking Indian films to illustrate this point makes an interesting case. Among the few Indian films shown during the latest MEIFF were a couple of very interesting ones, namely Kerala Café and Cooking with Stella. Both films were worlds apart from the usual Bollywood flicks and instead of showing a fantasy world of glamour, they showed a more realistic India.

However, the Indian film that took most of the buzz at the same festival was again what has been claimed to be "the most expensive film in Bollywood so far", the underwater action blockbuster Blue.

Variety is always welcome, especially at events such as these where the aim is to draw as many people as possible to watch films. But when Blue was released in cinemas a week after the end of the festival, it becomes questionable whether screening it at the festival, including a red carpet appearance by the stars of the film, was just a publicity stunt.

Certainly there are things to thank these festivals for — mainly for giving film buffs the chance to watch endless screenings of independent films, which would not be possible in the region otherwise. They are indeed trying to introduce some culture to the region and perhaps their attempts, regardless of the flaws, should be seen as a step forward in the right direction.

And nothing proves that there are certainly changes on the way regarding film culture more than the opening of the first art house film theatre in the UAE this month. The Picture House at Dubai Mall promises to screen critically-acclaimed independent films for serious film lovers. Maybe in the coming years, these film festivals could look beyond what people want to see and try to make a separate identity for themselves by setting higher standards, especially on regional and Arab films.

If these events are to compete internationally and aim to put the Gulf on the cultural map, more attention could be put on choosing the films, supporting new regional talents and introducing lesser-known international ones to the public.

While George Clooney or Robert DeNiro's presence in town is certainly going to make the news, the hype should be built more around what the festivals have to offer the audience and filmmakers rather than who attends them.

Only then will these festivals have a chance to someday compete with their better-grounded and sophisticated international counterparts.

Under the spell of war

Egyptian films have dominated Arabic cinema for decades. Only recently have notable films from other countries in the Arab world, such as Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Tunisia, come up.

It is, however, disappointing to see that the new movement in independent Arab films (as opposed to Egyptian mainstream ones) all seem to be stuck in the themes of either identity crisis or wars and struggles.

Take Lebanese films as an example. Every year more than a handful are shown at film festivals. While some of the films might be well-made, the subject matter is the same: war.

Whether it is talking about the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990 or the more recent one with Israel in 2006, conflict seems the only topic Lebanese directors have on their minds.

The first such film was the critically acclaimed Ziad Doueiri's 1998 West Beirut, which dealt with the subject of war in a humorous yet sensitive way and perhaps inspired several newcomers to do their own versions of what has almost become a genre in modern Lebanese cinema.

I can recall a few films which were shown in the past few years and all dealt with war: Melodrama Habibi, Under the Bombs, Falafel, One Man Village, not to mention the handful of documentaries dealing with the topic in the latest Middle East International Film Festival.

Being Lebanese I understand how the topic of war might be so appealing and maybe comes more spontaneously to a Lebanese than any other topic. However, nothing new in terms of originality and ideas seems to be added to what is already there.

While film might be a form of therapy for people stuck in the past and a creative way to let out feelings about a personal experience, it still requires a strong identity or an original take on a familiar topic to be successful.

This is where most Lebanese films fail and where the Iraqi film Son of Babylon has succeeded by a long way.

Despite the large number of films set in Iraq that were made after 2003 and most of the feature films and documentaries dealing with the aftermath of the Iraq war, this film ventured into forgotten territory — that of the Kurds in Iraq.

The film follows an old woman and her grandson after the fall of Saddam Hussain in 2003 in their search for her missing son who was imprisoned after the Iraq-Iran war and never came back.

Apart from the great narrative and deeply touching story, the film goes further to claim a theme of letting go of the past and forgiving to move on. Such a theme has rarely been seen in Arabic films, which sometimes tend to be very self-indulgent. After the screening, the director himself emphasised that the point of the film is to make people think of the future by showing the past.

"We cannot move forward until we let go of our past grudges in Iraq," he said.

Indeed this also applies to everywhere in the Arab world, where the past still forms the biggest hurdle in moving on — something which seems to be largely reflected in its films.

A change in order

The upcoming sixth Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has some pleasant surprises for film lovers. Its Cinema of the World programme will include the winner of this year's Golden Bear for Best Picture in the Berlin Film Festival, The Milk of Sorrow, by the Peruvian director Claudia Llosa.

Another exciting feature will be the French film Welcome, narrating the story of an Iraqi-Kurdish asylum seeker who swims across the English Channel trying to reach the United Kingdom.

As part of this programme, this year too films from Denmark, Zanzibar, Korea, Sweden, Norway, Hungary and other countries will be screened — a variety rarely seen in the past couple of years. As for the Arabian Nights programme, let us just say our hopes are up this year, for the programme seems to show some interesting films with diverse themes and storylines.

These include My Father, My Uncle — a documentary about a 28-year-old Iraqi-German who meets his long-lost father's family after being adopted at birth by his uncle.

Another interesting subject is that of the Arab diaspora — namely the Lebanese in Australia — which is tackled by Serhat Caradee in his film Cedar Boys.

Notably though, many of the films under the banner of Arabian Nights this year are from non-Arab directors, which should make an interesting case.

One of the films is Checkpoint Rock: Canciones Desde Palestina (Checkpoint Rock: Songs from Palestine) by Fermin Muguruza which departs from the usually depressive political topic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and showcases Palestine's contemporary music scene.

All in all, despite the one too many Hollywood films planned to be screened, it looks like this year's DIFF has a much more inspiring line-up than its Doha and Abu Dhabi counterparts. Will this raise the bar and trigger competition in the years to come?

Let us hope so because only then will we see better quality and variety in these festivals to finally justify their existence.