In the absence of a comprehensive encyclopedia that enriches those interested in the seventh art

Documenting the march of Emirati cinema.. Individual initiatives awaiting further support

• A scene from the Emirati movie "Sayer of Paradise".

  archival

picture

Although Emirati cinema has been able to make great strides in the field of making and showing local films since its inception until now;

It was not able to achieve the same amount of success in documenting its path and the history of the stages it passed through, and the efforts made along this path.

So far, it is not possible to be certain of the existence of a comprehensive, documented and available encyclopedia for researchers and interested parties that provides documentation of the cinematography in the Emirates, but there are several initiatives in this direction, but they are individual and did not find official support to continue and gain more momentum, spread and continuity.

"Emirates Today" monitors a number of these initiatives, including the initiative of the fourth Al Ain Film Festival, which was organized last January, through the launch of the "Encyclopedia of Emirati Cinema", according to festival director Amer Salmeen Al-Marri, who explained that the encyclopedia is an archival book that includes the history of The stages of development of cinema in the Emirates, its path and achievements over the past 50 years, starting with the establishment of the first theaters and famous old cinema venues, the development of galleries in the Emirates, the beginnings and development of Emirati film, whether short or long, with the aim of providing knowledge content to the Gulf and Arab reader about the history and achievements of Emirati cinema. The encyclopedia should serve as a reference for researchers, specialists, creators, students and all filmmakers in general.

"Art Hub"

While the initiative of producer and director Adel Al-Halawi was not limited to cinema only, as it aimed to collect talent and creativity in various fields through a digital platform called "Art Hub", which is a digital application that is the first of its kind in the UAE and the Arab world, as the owner of the initiative mentioned in Bayan, noting that the idea came to him when he faced difficulties in searching for talents and workers in the technical field while preparing for his movie "The Unbeatable Fighter", and therefore he thought of launching an application that aims to include and highlight innovations in the fields of cinema, television, production and the artistic community. Theatres, radio, products, materials and resources for artistic production from acting, directing, writing, drawing, photography, graphics, montage and distribution, in a way that facilitates the process of acquaintance with the other on the one hand, and on the other hand, to support ideas and exchange opinions about creative productions in cinema and television.

Al-Halawi explained that "ArtHub" will be a comprehensive platform, aiming to provide training courses in several artistic fields, and the feature of notifications to subscribers that will enable them to know the most prominent artistic events, the latest cinematic productions and movie shows, and the sites of artists specialized in creative content, in addition to providing a page Specific roles and tasks, which enable subscribers and members to search for a specific job in their technical work, and to provide a special advertisement to search for representatives, technicians, producers and other fields.

Archives

In 2013, Zayed University launched the National Film Library and Archive, as part of the activities and initiatives of the "Zayed University Middle East Film Festival". and another funded by the UAE, in addition to local films that participated in the sessions of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi International Film Festivals, the "Films from the Emirates" competition, the Gulf Film Festival, and the Zayed University Middle East Film Festival.

The modern library adopted the latest applications in preserving, archiving and displaying various cinematic materials and facilitating them for researchers at that time, embodying the only and first national center of its kind in the Gulf region to document the stages of development of the film industry in the UAE and preserve it for future generations, according to what its organizers explained during the opening.

campaign

the following year;

Director Nawaf Al-Janahi launched his initiative "Emirati Cinema Campaign", which included the launch of a campaign website that included information and figures about production agencies in the country, places to study cinema, and statistics on annual production, in addition to clarifying the concept of Emirati cinema, and that it includes films made by Emirati filmmakers. , as well as resident filmmakers of different nationalities, as well as films produced with Emirati funding, and foreign films shot in many locations in the Emirates.

The campaign included communicating with the public through social networks, and a cycling tour, which was scheduled to be held annually in the various emirates of the country, and aims to communicate directly with the public in public places, and illuminate the Emirati cinema, and motivate them to follow its films, in addition to implementing works Various artworks inspired by Emirati cinema, implemented by specialized artists, and distributed in public places or related to culture and education to draw the attention of the audience, communicate with them and promote the culture of Emirati cinema and films.

Under construction

In addition to this type of initiatives that have been linked to documenting aspects of the film industry in the country, there are other projects and writings that have sought to document cinema since the beginnings of films in the Emirates. Statements dating back to 2012, in which he deals with the history of cinema in the Emirates, which is the subject of the same doctoral dissertation that he prepared, and the film included three parts: the first deals with the history of cinema as a presentation.

It dealt with the subject of the first cinema in the Emirates, which belonged to the British camp in 1848. As for the second part, it focused on the beginning of film production in the country, as "Passing the Way" by Ali Al-Abdul is the first Emirati film, and it was filmed at that time with a television camera.

While the third part of the film deals with the recent period with the beginning of government interest in cinema and its support through the film festivals that were organized in the country, namely the Dubai Film Festival, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, the Gulf Festival, or through Image Nation, which is one of the international companies in The field of producing feature films, pointing out that he used in his research and filming of his work with films that were previously shown for documentation, and sometimes based on what historians wrote, such as researcher Nasser Al-Aboudi, who is the only one who spoke about Emirati cinema, and many people who were going To the cinema in the seventies and eighties of the last century.

Stages of development..with pictures

Emirati artist and photographer Ammar Al Attar presented an art exhibition in 2018 at New York University Abu Dhabi, entitled “Cinema in the UAE”, in which he traces the beginnings of cinemas and their shows in the country through a large collection of photos, documents and materials through which he sought to paint a panoramic picture of the stages of development. The independent cinemas that were built in the early seventies of the last century, and what they have become at the present time, and the role they played in society, as artistic and cultural centers that provided their visitors with artistic and entertainment works at a rather early time.

He also reviewed aspects of the cinematic culture in the UAE and the Gulf region by observing several phenomena, including the weekly family rituals of going to cinemas, or the propaganda posters used to promote films in front of a wide and diverse segment of the audience.

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