27 films and 23 sessions and workshops in the second edition
“Al-Marmoum: A Film in the Desert” .. a festival that is wider than the borders of the screen
Maktoum bin Marawan Al Maktoum: “Integrating the arts in the festival was our most important goal, because we believe that art is interconnected.”
Specialized sessions held by the festival dealing with the most important issues of the film industry.
Photography: Ashok Verma
Shamma Al-Zafin: "The festival is not just three days a year. There is a strategy and vision for developing and refining talents in the Arab world."
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Creative experiences presented by the second edition of the “Al Marmoum: Film in the Desert” festival, which is organized by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority in the Al Marmoum Desert Reserve. Creative spaces that go beyond the borders of the screen and films, and reach visual arts, installation works, photo exhibitions and traditional crafts that visitors travel with in an integrated and different cultural experience amid the desert sands and dunes.
Sheikh Maktoum bin Marwan Al Maktoum, Project Manager of the Marmoum Festival, Senior Officer of the Projects and Events Department at Dubai Culture, told Emirates Today that the second edition of the festival “carries many additions, most notably the short film competition, as well as visual works. Which talks about filmmaking, and tells stories about the region. Integrating the arts in the festival was our most important goal, because we believe that art is interconnected.
Referring to the focus on storytelling, starting from the Marmoum region, to the cinema industry, he spoke about the accompanying exhibitions that shed light on cinema, including the “Dubai Cinema” exhibition by Ammar Al-Attar, which takes the audience to the beginning of the era of cinema in the Emirates.
Al Maktoum indicated that the exhibition includes photographs taken by the private photographer of the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, may God rest his soul, which were taken during the opening of the first cinema in the Emirates, and that Ammar Al-Attar collected in his exhibition photographs, archives and old posters. From the history of cinema in the Emirates, as well as his artwork.
Regarding the short film competition, the director of the Marmoum Festival project noted that its aim is to provide a platform for emerging artists and filmmakers to participate in the festival, stressing that the festival attaches importance to various types of films, and focuses on areas that need support to provide it in the future.
Sheikh Maktoum bin Marwan Al Maktoum confirmed that the second version cannot be compared to the first version, especially since the first version came two weeks before the quarantine imposed by the Corona pandemic, while this version witnesses the participation of well-known Emirati directors, including Iman Al-Sayed, Abdul Rahman Al-Madani, and Nujoom Al-Ghanem. As well as directors from the region and from Hollywood, including Jessen Clark and Amjad Abu El-Ela.
For her part, the project manager of the "Al Marmoum: Film in the Desert" festival, a senior officer in the office of the Executive Director of the Arts and Literature Sector in "Dubai Culture", Shamma Al Zafin, explained that the festival celebrates emerging talents, as well as artworks related to the film festival or even the reserve.
She pointed out that the short film competition, which was introduced in this edition, has received more than 150 films, and 15 of them will be screened during the festival days, and they are the films that qualified for the final stage, while the winners will be announced today at the end of the festival.
Al-Zafin stressed that they focused on the visual arts, with the aim of attracting talents in various fields, as the film-maker can be a plastic artist, praising the artworks that were presented to emerging artists, including Shamma Al-Mazroui, who presented a work on “the broken phone”, which arouses nostalgia in the hearts of people. , while the artist, Aisha Hader, presented the moving culture through her artwork, in addition to the exhibition of Ammar Al-Attar, and the exhibition of photographer Ali Bin Thalith.
Regarding the "Proudly from Dubai" initiative, Al Zaffin indicated that there are more than 15 participating restaurants in this initiative, which was organized in cooperation with "Brand Dubai", which aims to shed light on emerging projects from the emirate.
Regarding the strategy for developing the festival, Al-Zafin said: “The festival is not just three days a year.
It is also mentioned that the festival hosted a group of directors, including the Japanese director Jisuke Sato, who attended the activities of the first day, and pointed out that he will present during the festival an overview of his show, which can be viewed on the Netflix platform, explaining that this festival constitutes an opportunity to meet with the audience. And the definition of works that bear a variety of dialects.
He stressed that it is the first time that he witnesses the launch of the festival in the middle of the desert, which is a unique and enjoyable experience.
Festival Program The activities of the festival, which concludes today, vary between film screenings, workshops and dialogue sessions.
Among the feature films that will be shown are “Giraffe”, “Revolving Rhymes”, “Honey, Rain and Dust” by Emirati director Nujoom Al-Ghanem, and “Looking for Umm Kulthum”.
Among the short films are “The Elephant and the Bike”, “Emirate” and “A Simple Step”.
While the workshops and sessions will raise many issues related to cinema, including “the basics and cinematography in intervals”, “the language of film”, “documentaries for a minute” and many others.
Maktoum bin Marawan Al Maktoum: «Integration of arts in the festival
It was our most important goal, because we believe that art is interconnected.
Shamma Al-Zafin: "The festival is not just three days a year. There is a strategy and vision for developing and refining talents in the Arab world."
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