The latest Gulf News/YouGov survey asked participants about their cinema habits, tastes and views on film festivals. An analysis of the responses of the sample size of 629 respondents revealed that residents on an average go to the cinema 2.5 times a month.
Only 4 per cent of the respondents said they "Never" watched movies in the cinema. A further probe into the reasons deterring viewers from venturing into the cinema complexes showed that the majority preferred to watch movies in the comfort of their own homes. However, a lack of personal time, ticket costs, show timings and even transport issues were cited as factors that discouraged visits to the cinema.
When it came to commenting on the pricing of tickets 62 per cent found it to be overpriced and 33 per cent thought it to be just about right. Asians expressed the most discontent with the pricing (83 per cent) and Westerners mostly thought them reasonably priced. There were a few respondents who believed tickets to be under priced, with support coming in from 6 per cent of the Emirati respondents. Surprisingly, 1 per cent of the lower income groups also found the ticket prices to be under priced, while there was absolutely no such opinion from the higher income brackets.
On the subject of concessions to special groups, mostly all the groups agreed on the need for discounted pricing for students, children, senior citizens and the physically challenged. However, housewives didn't garner much nods from any section of the respondents.
There was also near unanimous agreement over special prices for screenings during off-peak hours such as matinees and morning shows. More than 90 per cent of the Westerners and Asians were in favour of this, while only 69 per cent of Emiratis agreed with the suggestions. In fact, 10 per cent of Emiratis were against the idea.
Viewer preferences indicated that across ethnicity, income group, gender and religious affiliation, there was a clear preference for cinema from the West - particularly the United States. The only exception was that 57 per cent of Asian respondents expressed a liking for cinema from India.
The survey also revealed that 80 per cent of the respondents ticked "Westerns" as their preferred movie type. Traditionally, westerns refer to "cowboy movies" and there is a possibility that the respondents misunderstood the intent of the option to read as movies from the West. Romances, martial arts, documentaries and adventures completed the top five. An interesting observation that emerged from the data is that 67 per cent of males selected the romance genre as a preferred choice when compared to only 42 per cent of females and the adventure genre found more favour with the women - 70 per cent - as opposed to 41 per cent of men.
In terms of experimenting with cinema in a foreign language, most respondents seemed fairly open to viewing movies in languages other than their native tongue, provided the film was adequately subtitled. Asians were the least open with only 59 per cent expressing interest in foreign films and women were more open to the idea than men. Subtitling or the lack of it was highlighted as the biggest obstacle to viewing foreign films, although a lack of personal interest, absence of publicity and little choice in offerings were also pointed out as deterrents.
Main motive
It is, therefore, no surprise that 79 per cent of the respondents (445 respondents who were likely to attend a film festival) said that their main motive for attendance would be the opportunity to watch a good selection of international cinema. Other reasons for interest were to watch cinema that may not have a general public release, to be part of a cultural event and catch the celebrities and movie stars.
With reference to the recently concluded Dubai International Film Festival (the survey was conducted prior to the festival), respondents were equally divided over attending it. The sum of those likely to attend was 47 per cent and sum of those unlikely to attend was 49 per cent with 4 per cent still undecided at the time of surveying.
The survey revealed that attendance by the participants had increased from 9 to 17 per cent from 2004 to 2005 with 79 per cent saying they had never attended the festival in its first two years. Although more men (51 per cent) than women (46 per cent) said they expected to attend this year's edition of the festival, the rise in attendees from 2004 to 2005 was actually higher for women (11 to 22 per cent) than men (8 to 14 per cent).
Three fourths of all respondents were in favour of screenings at the festival being scheduled at multiple venues as opposed to being concentrated at one centre. When asked about their opinion of the number of films and number of days of the festival, 47 per cent thought there were too many films, however more than 60 per cent thought the festival duration was too short and could extend by more days. Extra incentives at film festivals that include audience interaction with the featured films' talent and directors were definitely an attraction for the respondents, with almost 80 per cent nodding in favour of such activities.
The last portion of the survey asked respondents about their awareness and knowledge of the Emirati film industry. An average of 28 per cent of all respondents said they were mostly unaware of the existence of Emirati filmmaking efforts. The vast majority of non-Emirati respondents said that better publicity for the films and their talent would help encourage the movement, while the Emiratis said that there was an increased need for better academic instruction and governmental support that would help nurture the industry.
