It’s good to see collaboration between the UAE’s cultural entities. In the case of national cultural representatives, with a role to play in introduction, exchange, and connection, there are often some very specific contributions that they can make in introducing local audiences to cultural activity from other countries.
Film productions are an example, especially for the kind of independently-produced films of artistic and societal relevance that often benefit from non-commercial support. That seems to be the principle behind NAAS, a regular film festival that is a collaboration between a number of cultural institutions in the UAE – the Embassy of Canada to the United Arab Emirates, the Embassy of France in the United Arab Emirates, the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, the Italian Cultural Institute of Abu Dhabi, and the Embassy of Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain – in partnership with a locale with screening facilities, such as Manarat Al Sadiyyat and Alliance Française Dubai.
The films all come from the partner countries, often with institutional funding. The word NAAS (‘people’ in Arabic) was chosen as a generic umbrella term which would allow the programme to focus on different themes for different series. For this outing, with eight films showing between 10 September and 26 November at Alliance Française Dubai, the series title is ‘Green Reel: Films for a Sustainable Future’ (the next series, in 2025, will be ‘NAAS: She Reel – Women in Society’).
It’s an interesting selection of films, all screening at no charge (but only once per film, at 8pm on the date) and with subtitles in English where necessary. The films:
10 September Rouge (Red Soil) France/Belgium, 2020: directed by Farid Bentoumi
A suspenseful eco-thriller complicated a tortuous father-daughter relationship. “A heartbreaking watch” said The Guardian.
24 September Ökozid (Ecocide) Germany, 2020: directed by Andres Veiel
A credible near-future courtroom drama with a coalition of countries from the Global South suing the German state for failing to act against climate change. It is a drama, but one based on meticulous research.
8 October Siccità (Dry) Italy, 2022: directed by Paolo Virzì
Virzì’s apocalyptic eco-drama-cum-social-satire observes the inhabitants of Rome as they cope with a three-year drought that has dried up the Tiber. “An intelligent, ambitious modern melodrama with a bracingly cynical streak” said Screendaily.
22 October Animal France, 2021: directed by Cyril Dion
Dion’s well crafted documentary has two teenagers meeting with scientists and activists around the world to see if it might be possible to live alongside other species, in coexistence rather than competition.
5 November Taste the Waste Germany, 2011: directed by Valentin Thurn
Very little has changed since this powerful documentary on the global scandal of food waste was made. What can we do? How can we improve our behaviour?
12 November More than Honey Switzerland, 2012: directed by Markus Imhoof
A fascinating documentary about the decimation of the world’s bee population through the phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, investigated by a filmmaker who comes from a long line of beekeepers.
19 November Hadwin’s Judgement Canada, 2015: directed by Sasha Snow
This compelling hybrid of drama and documentary covers the events that led up to the infamous destruction of an extraordinary 300-year-old tree in British Columbia. What drove Grant Hadwin, logging engineer and expert woodsman, to act as he did?
26 November Dans la brume (Just a Breath Away) France, 2018: directed by Daniel Roby
A survivalist sci-fi thriller; Paris is overtaken by a mysterious toxic fog that threatens the life of a girl suffering from an incurable disease which forces her to live in a hermetically sealed glass bubble.
Be the first to comment