Filming in the GCC

If we want a subjective study of what the GCC cinema maybe like in the next few years, we must review the achievements of GCC countries in this field in the past two years.

Unlike countries with long history in cinema, here we will see different experiences, some of which are individual, and some show extreme effort to develop an active cinema and deal with the surrounding world on equal terms.

UAE

A lot of work has been done in the past two years, and continues as this year comes to an end. A festival has been launched, which has managed to become the region's gem and a meeting point between the East and West. The success of this festival is a success for all Arab cinema, and, of course, UAE cinema.

Soon the Dubai cinema studios will star operations, and by the March, the Emirati films festival will be held in a new session that Masoud Al Ali, chairman of that festival, promised would be "bustling".

Between the two festivals, more long and short feature films and documentaries will be made. After Ahlam (dreams) for Hani Shibani, we have Haneen (longing) for Mohammad Al Tarifi, and Al Mahd (the cradle) for Syrian director Mohammad Malas, which was shot in the UAE.

Bahrain

Director Bassam Al Thawadi is the one man behind Bahraini cinema so far. He has three long feature films, which are Al Hajez (the barrier), Al Zair (visitor) and Hikaya Bahrainiah (Bahraini story). He also tried to make an Arab film festival, before establishing a production company with equally important partners.

Al Hajez was a leap into the unknown, but the director landed confidently on new territories, and as years go by, he became more informed and experienced, and knew how to overcome the obstacles that he faced before directing his second film, Al Zair. While his first film was artistic, his second was more commercial. The third, Hikaya Bahrainiah stands between the two. It is a film with an artistic and dramatic approach, and won't disappoint those who are looking for story enjoyment and good work on feelings in sentimental, social and political situations.

Saudi Arabia

More than 110 years after the first commercial film was shown in Paris in 1895, the Saudi cinema produced two feature films.

The first is Thilal Al Samt (Shadows of Silence) by Abdullah Al Muhaisen, and the second is Keif Al Hal (How are you?) by Isodore Muslim. But, was Saudi cinema totally absent prior to that?

Saudi director and producer Abdullah Al Muhaisen earlier produced short films and documentaries in the past 25 years. The other important issue is that two Saudi films in one year mark the birth of a new stage in the region's cinema history.

It embodies full acknowledgement of the social, cultural and political role the cinema plays in the Saudi society. Besides, we are not talking about two films with no content. They are both serious films that discuss important aspects of the Saudi and Arab societies.

If this was the case, does it really matter which one of the two films was actually the first Saudi film?

Kuwait

The ambitions of Kuwaiti cinema fans face obstacles that cannot be overcome by any traditional solutions.

These obstacles include the sharp drift between the moderate and liberal side, and the conservative side of the Kuwaiti community. This has created a discouraging atmosphere for cinema. The other problem is the limits of the Kuwaiti market, which is the same problem all GCC countries face, and the third problem is the capital, which believes in producing cost-effective films.

The two films produced in 2004 and 2006 were directed to the young Kuwaiti generation to make as much profit as possible. There is no wonder that the first Kuwaiti director, Khalid Al Siddiq, has lost interest, even though he is needed today as much as when he produced the first Kuwaiti movie Bas Ya Bahar (enough, oh sea).

Yemen

Like other Arab countries with no cinema industry, Yemen relies on its young people who like cinema and try to make their own way. There are only two names so far, which are Khadija Al Salama and Badr Bin Harsi, and they both deserve a lot of encouragement since they have a passion for cinema.
In Amina, her second documentary, director Khadija tackles a very important subject, which is the bigger and smaller prisons of Yemeni women, and other Arab women.

While Badr Bin Harsi, in his first long feature film Youm Jadid Fi Sanaa Al Qadima (a new day in old Sanaa), develops the story from an old legend about women's suffering from male authority and waiting for what never comes.