'Fact is stranger than fiction'

Arab documentary film-maker Omar Amiralay makes films for a purpose. "The main reason I make films is to stay alive. To express my unhappiness with the banality in the world, how the banal snuffs out the nobility in man,'' says Amiralay in an interview with Gulf News at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation before the opening of the Emirates Film Competition (EFC) screening on Wednesday night.

Well-known in the Arab world for being an avant garde documentary maker, Amiralay is in the UAE to head the four-member jury panel judging the film entries at the EFC. The results of this competition will be announced this evening at a ceremony at the Cultural Foundation following the screening of all the 80 entries over a period of three days.

The seemingly intense Amiralay, who has won many awards in Berlin, France and his home country Syria for his documentaries, claims "injustice" acts as a muse for him as well. "I'm revolted by the unfair and the cruel,'' he exclaims.

Interestingly, Amiralay has not featured any fiction in the 20 documentaries to his name. "I'm very attached to the real drama in life. I'm always surprised by how rich in expression reality can be. I'm amazed at the unexpected twists in a human's life, something like - fact is stranger than fiction,'' he adds.

Among Amiralay's repertoire are films like the one screened at the Cultural Foundation on the EFC opening night - Sa'ad Alla Wanoos. This documentary was special because it records an interview with famous Arab writer Wanoos three months before his death.

Dying of cancer, Wanoos talks about the impact of the Israeli conflict on his generation. "It was a testimony for our entire generation," says Amiralay, who believes that nothing can be the last episode in the ongoing Israeli conflict.

Amiralay, who studied theatre and cinema in Idhec, Paris, has been part of this creative world for the past 32 years. Presently, he makes films for ARTE channel, shuttling between Syria and France. Excerpts from a conversation:

Kavitha S. Daniel: What was your reaction to being invited to the UAE?

Omar Amiralay: I was frankly curious when the Cultural Foundation invited me to chair the competition. Anyway, I'm always curious and jealous about young film-makers, keen to know what they can do. I'm always searching to be surprised.

And were you "surprised'' with the films from the UAE in this competition?

Let's say I was astonished. I did not expect to find signs of integrity in this extremely commercial society. I found the works of the girls from the Abu Dhabi Women's College especially interesting. That surprised me. But, I could not distinguish how much of the images they created were a reflection of what they think they are rather than what they are.