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Emirati Film Review
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EMIRATI FILM REVIEW
April 15-17, 2016
Nahda Foundation and Kino Pod Baranami present Poland's first review of films from the United Arab Emirates, which will take place on April 15-17. The event, organised in collaboration with Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Emirati filmmakers, aims to present this little-known but dynamically developing cinema. The review will be attended by a special guest - the film director Nawaf Al Janahi.
The United Arab Emirates are associated mainly with oil, investment boom in recent years, ultra-modern skyscrapers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi or amazing man-made islands. It should be remembered, though, that this relatively small country of the Arabian Gulf - with less than 10 million citizens - is also an important center of Arab culture and the young, emerging cinema. Its birth dates back to the turn of the century and it is supported by the Dubai International Film Festival, organised since 2004, and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival initiated three years later.
The programme of the review includes two feature films and one documentary, as well as a selection of short films. From A to B is a classic road movie - the route passes through the Arabian Peninsula and twists and turns of male friendship. Sea Shadow constitutes an intimate portrait of two boys whose dilemmas reflect the clash of traditional values and trends of modernization in the Emirati society. The film's director, Nawaf Al Janahi, will be the guest of the screening. As One, a feature-length documentary, presents the participants of an art therapy project aimed at children suffering from autism, while the selection of four short films shows the diversity of styles and audiovisual languages among Emirati filmmakers.
The film review will be accompanied by three special events - a lecture on the history of the United Arab Emirates at Kolanko No 6 (ul. Józefa 17), a meeting with Ahmed Abdalla Burhaima, Consul of the UAE in Poland at Collegium Maius (ul. Jagiellońska 15) and Breakfast with Emirati Cinema at Pauza In Garden (ul. Rajska 12), dedicated to the history of cinema of the country.
Emirati Film Review is organised under the honorary patronage of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Poland.
All the films will be screened with Polish and English subtitles.
The event will also take place in Warsaw (Kino.Lab) on the same date.
PROGRAMME:
Wednesday, April 13
6.00 p.m. Lecture on the history of the United Arab Emirates
by Karolina Rak, Ph.D.
(Cudowne Lata, ul. Garncarska 5 - free entrance)
Friday, April 15
2.00 p.m. Meeting with Ahmed Abdalla Burhaima,
Consul of the United Arab Emirates in Poland
(Collegium Maius, M. Bobrzyński’s Room, ul. Jagiellońska 15 - free entrance)
7.15 p.m. SEA SHADOW | SEA SHADOW
dir. Nawaf Al Janahi, United Arab Emirates 2011, 98’
Special guest: Nawaf Al Janahi, film director.
Saturday, April 16
11.00 a.m. Breakfast with Emirati Cinema:
Introduction to the History of Emirati Cinema
by Sebastian Gadomski, Ph.D. (Pauza In Garden, ul. Rajska 12 - free entrance)
7.15 p.m. FROM A TO B | FROM A TO B
dir. Ali F. Mostafa, United Arab Emirates/Jordan/Lebanon 2013, 108’
Sunday, April 17
6.00 p.m. EMIRATI SHORT FILMS, 72’
7.30 p.m. AS ONE: THE AUTISM PROJECT | AS ONE: THE AUTISM PROJECT
dir. Hana Makki, United Arab Emirates 2014, 80’
TICKETS:
16 zł (regular)
13 zł (discount/senior)
Entry pass (4 screenings): 40 zł
ABOUT FILMS:
AS ONE: THE AUTISM PROJECT
dir. Hana Makki, United Arab Emirates 2014, 80’
(in Arabic and English with Polish and English subtitles) 
Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2014
Malmö Arab Film Festival 2015
Children with autism are all around us – it’s a condition that may affect as many as 1 in 50 children in the UAE. While awareness is growing in the United Arab Emirates, children and families affected with autism still battle stigma and misinformation everyday. The Autism Project is an initiative started by Her Highness Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to raise awareness of Autism in the United Arab Emirates. Through the power of theatre, dance, music and performance, we provided a safe and positive space for children and families in the UAE from all different cultures and backgrounds. As One became a documentary film, which tells a story of joy and hope, and celebrates the unique gifts of these very special young people.
FROM A TO B
dir. Ali F. Mostafa, United Arab Emirates/Jordan/Lebanon 2013, 108’ (fiction)
(in Arabic and English with Polish and English subtitles)
Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014
Dubai International Film Festival 2014
Cairo International Film Festival 2014
Omar (Rifaai) finds himself still racked with guilt over the death of his best friend Hady, who passed away five years ago. Now, just days away from the birth of his first child, he decides to take the road trip they never got to take… much to the dismay of his very pregnant wife. Omar reaches out to his estranged high school friends Jay (Albutairi) and Ramy (Alfons) - with whom he has lost touch since Hady’s death - to take the road trip in his memory. Jay, now a playboy/wannabe DJ, and Ramy, an #activist (with 737 twitter followers!), take some convincing, but finally agree to the trip. The boys decide to drive from Abu Dhabi - via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria - to arrive in Beirut, on what would have been Hady’s twenty-fifth birthday. Their journey is filled with speedbumps - breakdowns, wrong turns, shady mechanics and a camel or two. If all of this doesn’t drive them crazy, it might just bring them closer.
SEA SHADOW | SEA SHADOW
dir. Nawaf Al Janahi, United Arab Emirates 2011, 98’ (fiction)
(in Arabic with Polish and English subtitles) 
Gulf Corporation Council Film Festival 2013: Najlepsza aktorka
Oran Arab Film Festival 2013: Best Ascension Award
Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2011
Shanghai International Film Festival 2012
Munich International Film Festival 2012
- went on to be shown at 20 more film festivals around the world
Set in a small seaside neighbourhood in the United Arab Emirates, Sea Shadow follows teenagers Mansour and Kaltham as they struggle with tradition and convention in their journey towards adulthood. Bound by family and deeply-rooted values, the pair must find the courage to forge their own paths. The film premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2011 and was released in theaters throughout the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. It premiered in the United States at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2012.
EMIRATI SHORT FILMS
(total running time: 72’)
THE INTRUDER! | THE INTRUDER!
dir. Majid Alansari, United Arab Emirates 2011, 14’
(in English with Polish subtitles) 
Mexico International Film Festival 2012: Golden Palm
37th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival 2012: Honorable Mention
- awarded or shown at 7 more film festivals around the world
A remote desert at deep night. A couple meets an intruder who may be a threat to them and their unborn child.
SABEEL | SABEEL
dir. Khalid Al Mahmood, United Arab Emirates 2010, 20’
(no dialogue) 
New York Film Eurasian Festival 2010: Best Short Film
Locarno International Film Festival 2010: International Competition, Golden Pardino - Leopards of Tomorrow (nominated)
- awarded at 2 more film festivals
Two small boys live with their elderly grandmother in the mountains of the UAE. Spending their days tending their vegetables and then selling produce on the road, they have to earn enough money to buy medicine for their sick grandmother. This sweet, poignant film explores their lives and the world in which they live.
SMALLER THAN THE SKY | SMALLER THAN THE SKY
dir. Abdullah Hasan Ahmed, United Arab Emirates 2012, 18’
(in Arabic with Polish and English subtitles) 
Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2012: Emirates Film Competition - Short Narrative Competition
Malmö Arab Film Festival 2012
- shown at 3 more film festivals
The profound story of a relationship between a young girl and a bird intertwines with the story of a woman trapped in her car as a result of an accident in the mountains.
SUNSET STATE | HALET GHOROOB
dir. Mustafa Abbas, United Arab Emirates 2013, 21’
(in Arabic and English with Polish and English subtitles) 
Dubai International Film Festival 2013: Muhr Emirati Award - Best Film (nominated)
Cannes Film Festival - Short Film Corner
- shown at 4 more film festivals
Two men with troubled pasts discover they are neighbors. Deep into the minds of two men, an American novelist, and an Emirati college student, into their happy memories as well as sad. A journey through the emotions of these two people, which are carried by their most inner thoughts and feelings.
NAWAF AL JANAHI
Actor and film director, born in Abu Dhabi in 1977 to Egyptian mother and Emirati father. He started acting at seven years old and at the age of nineteen he moved to California to study the arts of cinema. After returning to the UAE, Nawaf Al Janahi produced and directed award-winning independent short films which were recognized globally at many well known international film festivals. His last short film, Mirrors of Silence, was highly celebrated by film critics and audiences alike, and has been officially selected in over 22 international film festivals around the world, frequently the only film from the United Arab Emirates represented.
His first feature length film, The Circle, was described by film critics as “a major turning point in Emirati and Gulf cinema”. His second feature film, Sea Shadow, had its world premiere at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (2011), and was then released in cinemas across the Arabian Gulf. Competing with Hollywood blockbusters, the film reached in the 1st week the 2nd place in the top 5 movies in UAE, the biggest cinema market in the Arab world. Later, the film went on a global tour to over 24 countries, the most remarkable achievement for an Emirati feature film to date.
Director's official website: www.nawafaljanahi.com .
Q&A session with the director following the screening of Sea Shadow.
ORGANISER:
Nahda Foundation
CO-ORGANISERS:
Kino Pod Baranami
Kino.Lab
PARTNERS:
Emirati Cinema Campaign
Image Nation
Support Arab Cinema
MEDIA PARTNER:
RMF Classic
