I was watching a movie last night at the cinema, and as the lights were dimmed, the movie credits began, and as usual, there was the name of one of the big Hollywood studios. As the opening scenes started, I sat there in the darkness, and kept thinking, we can do this. We can produce movies just like that.
So then why are Hollywood movies dominating our appetite for films, and our movie theatres? Where is our film industry?
There is no doubt that Hollywood studios, which started decades ago, have mastered the art of filmmaking. They have also turned filmmaking into a multibillion dollar industry, and a vehicle which has made American pop culture global.
Of course, you could argue that filmmaking in the Arab world dates back to the 1930s, and I'm specifically referring to Egyptian cinema, when the film industry in Cairo became a regional force. Egyptian films in the 1940s and 1950s saw what many called the "golden age" of Arab cinema.
This is not to say that these films were perfect or reflected realities of Egypt or other Arab societies. But like their Hollywood counterparts, Arab filmmakers were producing films which were 'happy endings', but more importantly, the significance here is that they were producing them with really high production values, which meant great stories, great acting, and movies that actually touched you in some way, laid the nucleus for the evolution of a great film industry.
However, that all changed with the shift of the political landscape in Egypt, from Farouq to Nasser, and with the surfacing of the major socio-economic challenges in Egypt, this led to the neglect of the film industry, and consequently its erosion. The 1970s and beyond saw a true decline in the quality of films, and that really was the beginning of the end of Egyptian/Arab cinema.
No Arab country has yet risen to truly proclaim the place that Egyptian cinema once held in the Arab world. But this is changing.
Dubai has taken the lead in establishing itself as the hub of media in the Arab world by opening Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, and launching the Dubai International Film Festival, which takes place every December 11.
In addition, the recently-opened Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid School of Communication has a mission to graduate great Arab media minds, who will feed the creation of a film industry in the UAE and the region.
Abu Dhabi solidified the UAE's position even further by launching a content creation zone 'twofour 54' this year, and also hosting its own 'Middle East International Film Festival'.
So why should we care about Arab films? Why should we want to one day see our movie theatres showing films produced by Emiratis and other Arabs, and know that people will flock to see these films?
Economic force
It goes without saying that the film industry, when approached the right way , becomes an economic force. Hollywood has proven that. So we in the UAE need to continue our drive to build this industry, create synergies between our media projects, and make our country not only a media hub that imports and attracts foreign media, but a media hub that exports value-driven media.
In addition to the economic reasons for aggressively pursuing the film industry, there are cultural reasons too.
Every time I walk into a movie theatre, I see people from all over the world, from liberals to conservatives, from young to old. In spite of all the differences between these individuals, they all come together in one place to watch a story, which is essentially what movies do - they tell us stories, that cross boundaries and ideologies and speak to people's hearts and minds. The power of films, and media in general, to shape perceptions about our world, cannot be overemphasised.
Growing up, I watched a lot of Hollywood movies, and whenever there was an Arab character in these movies, he was either decadent, someone corrupt and rich, or a bloodthirsty terrorist. I was a child when I watched most of those movies, but I still remember those images, and being an Arab and a Muslim, I know that they do not represent my people.
But you can imagine that every other person who also watched those movies, non-Arabs or non-Muslims, or have not interacted with our society, you can imagine the impression that those movies left them with in terms of forming their views about us. So you see, we need to tell our stories. And building a film industry, will give us a powerful platform to do just that.
- The writer is a member of the Federal National Council, CEO Dubai Media Incorporated and General Manager of Dubai One TV.
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