Queen Noor speaks about the power of cinema

Stepping into a room filled with small vases, each housing its own cream floating candle, I desperately searched for the right words to greet a queen.

"Lovely to meet you Your Majesty", "good evening Your Highness", I went over in my mind, all the time wondering if I should also be practising my curtsy.

Not nervous until faced with security flanked on every corner, The Pathway to Royalty — an official name, after more than an hour of running what felt like a gauntlet of briefings, credential checks and holding areas — was not an easy one.
 

Queen Noor was worth the wait — but not the worry. In a matter of seconds the widow of the late King Hussain of Jordan was chatting about film, friends and the power of cinema.

Dressed in a stunning blue kaftan-style gown, complete with matching earrings and pendant necklace, Queen Noor made it clear she had a message to get across.

"Film is an untapped resource which can help break down barriers," she said ahead of giving a keynote speech opening the Dubai International Film Festival's Cultural Bridge Panel.

"Cinema is like so many other tools at our disposal," she continued. "It can be used for good and it can be used for evil and I've seen it used for both. Having spent time in the Balkans, Africa and, of course, the Middle East, I have seen communities suffer where media was used to stir up hatred. But I've also seen it do such good and we need more of that.

"We haven't seen enough of the humanising impact of cinema and that is what will make a difference."

On the other side of two solid wooden doors a buzz filled an auditorium as guests took their seats for the Cultural Bridge gala screening of Budrus — a film Queen Noor is particularly close to.

"It humanises so many people and it highlights injustice and irrationality," she said. "It gives an enormous amount of hope by telling a story which is exemplary. It tells a story by those on the ground who are determined to take it to the next level — from the community to an international level. It's a story which will have an impact and can help bring [about] change."

Directed by 29-year-old Julia Bacha, who joined Queen Noor on the panel on Sunday night, Budrus is a story of universal solidarity, peace and brotherhood. Bacha compiled more than 200 hours of raw footage following a Palestinian community leader determined to unite Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction.

Extraordinary individuals

An inspiring 90-minute documentary, Budrus captures the efforts of extraordinary individuals who take on the most rigid, violent political and social divides to work collectively for peace.

"It makes a difference when you watch it," she said. "There are so many people who will watch the film for whom the stereotypes they've had will be destroyed or at least eroded concerning different sides of that conflict or divide."

Queen Noor plays an active role in representing many humanitarian causes around the world. Bacha's story caught her attention a number of years ago.

"Julia is a friend, and together we share the same vision," she added. "Research that we've sponsored brought us together, along with others. It was all very serendipitous. Some of us are Muslims — I am Arab-American. But we found one another through conversation about the divide and concerns around the world."

Promoting international exchange and understanding of Arab and Muslim culture and politics and Arab-western relations, Queen Noor says she is determined to do her best to tell these stories to the world and encourages others to do the same.

"As a founder of the King Hussain Foundation I have worked with poverty eradication through a media and humanity programme set up with the Tribeca Film Festival in New York," she said.

"We show films like Budrus to provide multiple perspectives, in particular on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. We plan to screen Budrus at Tribeca as it exemplifies the kind of media product that is so needed today and is so rare to find. You have to find a film which presents, in such a human way, different perspectives and the common ground people can find looking each other in the eye. It's about taking risks," she said.

Developing momentum

"I work with a multitude of different organisations that have brought Arab and Israeli young people together as well as Arab and Israeli adults who have suffered loss. They are relationships which have formed on the ground which the politicians haven't yet figured out. Film will help take this message to the world.

"It's been missing on a political level. The more we can develop a momentum on the ground the more we can help those decision makers who are in a position to change things to take those risks."

Queen Noor joined Bacha, along with Hollywood producer Mike Medavoy and MIT professor Rebecca Saxe, to head the annual Cultural Bridge Panel.

This year's panel took on the challenge of dissecting the role of media in relation to uniting diverse cultures.

"The challenge for filmmakers in this region now is to get things out there," she said.

"A film's importance will be measured by the extent in which we can get it out there. The industry is developing. It's young and can achieve great things. How far can we reach? Especially into those communities where it can help make a difference in the way people think."

"I love thrillers, and director James Cameron always delivers his goods. It will be good to sign off on an epic-adventure note."