Dr Jack G. Shaheen was more than pleased that Reel Bad Arabs, a documentary based on his book of the same name, was a sell-out at its world premiere here in Dubai.
“This will play an extremely important role, given the concept of this film festival, which is building bridges,'' he said. The 48-minute short got a full house at the Mall of the Emirates and there was a long line of people trying to get in.
“There was a lot of buzz afterwards. We are thrilled and energised,'' said Michel Moushabeck, president of the Interlink Publishing Group, publishers of Reel Bad Arabs.
Shaheen hopes that one of the theatres here picks up the film and screens it for a week. “It needs to be available to the mass audiences,'' he said about the documentary that details the “nightmare side of the Hollywood Dream machine''. No change The professor bemoaned the fact that nothing has changed since his groundbreaking work was published in 2001.
He said the negative images of Arab on commercial TV have increased. “American Muslims are portrayed as a threat to the country. This feeds into the paranoia, the Patriot Act, the rounding up of people; anybody who looks Arab, be it a Sikh or an African American.''
Shaheen pointed to a recent incident where Imams were taken off a plane. “It is regrettable, just because they said ‘Allahu Akbar, God is Great'.'' “Stereotyping in entertainment is not harmless. It is much more effective than in blatant propaganda films.'' Democratised Moushabeck further believes that the film industry has largely been “democratised'' as a result of technological changes.
“If you have the talent and the brains, you can easily make a film with a $3000 (Dh11,000) camera and software,'' he said. But getting the film distributed is another story, he said, because of the massive control by conglomerates and the lack of funding for independent distributors. “We have done our best, but it takes many hands,'' said Shaheen, when asked what Arabs are doing to counter the propaganda.
Pic Caption: Jack Shaheen. His film is a reaction to years of stereotyping.
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