Film As Nation Building: The UAE Goes Into the Movie Business
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2014.98Abstract
For the past 10 years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been aggressively pioneering at a national, government-financed level the production of local films while also courting Hollywood producers as a financier and production center.
As a young, wealthy nation still conflicted about how it defines itself to itself and how it wishes to be defined outside its border--and as a country with no previous history in the visual arts of any kind and no movie-going culture until the late 1990s--the UAE presents a unique approach to the building of a film industry, one that is not grounded in previous models of national film building.
Through content analysis of UAE films and interviews with local filmmakers, framed through rhetoric scholar Kenneth Burke’s writing on symbolism, we look at how the UAE government wishes to be perceived abroad versus how its filmmakers—who have a co-dependent relationship with the government--are portraying the country.
References
Bibliography
Abu Dhabi Media Company Research commissioned about UAE film outlets. Unpublished raw data, 2010
Aristotle, The Poetics, Focus Publishing/ R. Pullins Co., 2005
Box Office Mojo, UAE Box Office, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/uae/
Burch, Noel, Theory of Film Practice, Princeton University Press, 1981
Burke, Kenneth “The Definition of Man,” The Hudson Review, Vol.16, No. 4, Winter 1963-1964, pp 491-514
Laura Chubb “Film Review: City of Life,” Time Out Dubai, 20 April 2010
Basset, Abdul, “Dubai Tourism Appeal Up,” McClatchy-Tribune Business News, 13 June 2012
Freeman, Hadley, “How Sex and the City Lost Its Soul,” Daily Mail (UK), 25 May 2010), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1281157/Sex-And-The-City-2-How-Carrie--Co-man-obsessed-morons.html
Internet Movie Database, Mission Impossible Box Office, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229238/
Lavery, David “The Horror Film and the Horror of Film,” Film Criticism, Volume 7, Issue 1, 1982, pp. 47-58
Long, Natalie, “Dubai Shines in Mission Impossible 4,” Gulf News (UAE),7 December 2011, http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/film/cinema-reviews/dubai-shines-in-mission-impossible-4-1.946791
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Zayed University, Focus Group, led by author, April 2012, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Interviews
Bogerding, Ed, Image Nation CEO, Interviewed by Author, May 30, 2010
Cable, Robert, Mission Impossible, Production Manager, Interviewed by Author, February 4, 2012
Capriata, Cynthia, Artist, Interviewed by Author, April 28, 2012
Chaudoir, David, Gulf Researcher, Interviewed by Author, April 29, 2012
Al Jabri, Adel, Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Interviewed by Author, July 7, 2011 & December 20, 1013
Al Janahi, Nawaf, Interviewed by Author, September 12, 2011 & March 24, 2014
Al Marri, Rashid, Interviewed by Author July 7, 2011
Al Mahmood, Khalid Interviewed by Author, July 15, 2011
Karkouti, Alaa, Interviewed by Author, October 20, 2011 & November 4, 2013
Mostafa, Ali, Director, Interviewed by Author, June 7, 2010
Smith, Tim, FilmWorks, Interviewed by Author, June 7, 2010
Venn, Paul, TwoFour54, Interviewed by Author, October 20, 2011
Films Cited
Arabyana (2006), Directed by Nayla Al Khaja, Independent
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Directed by James
Madden, Fox Searchlight
Bint Mariam (2008), Directed by Sayed Salmeen, Independent
The Circle (2009). Directed by Nawaf Al Janahi. UAE/Kuwait: MBC
City of Life (2010). Directed by Ali Mostafa. UAE: Film Works
Contagion (2011) Directed by Stephen Soderbergh, Warner Bros. Distribution
The Help (2011) Directed by Tate Taylor: Dreamworks.
L’arrive d’un train en gare (1895), Lumiere Bros.
Mission Impossible 4 (2011) Directed by Brad Bird, Paramount Studios
My Name is Khan (2010) Directed by Karan Johar, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Once (2009), Directed by Nayla Al Khaja, Independent
The Rescuers (2010) Directed by Saeed Al Dhaheri, Independent
Sabeel (2011). Directed by Khalid Mahmoud. UAE.
Sea Shadow (2011) Directed by Nawaf Al Janahi. UAE:
Image Nation
Sex and the City 2 (2010) Directed by Michael Patrick King, Warner Bros. Distribution
Shorts (2009), Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Warner Bros. Distribution
Sun Dress (2010) Directed by Saeed Al Murry, Independent
Syriana (2005) Directed by Stephen Gaghan, Warner Bros Distribution
TelePhoni (2011) Directed by Hassan Kylani, Independent
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Directed by Tobe Hooper, Independent
Under the Sun (2005), Ali Mostafa, Independent
The Wayfarer (1988), Abdullah Bastiki, Independent
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