ABDULRAHMAN NAJDI SHAPING QATAR’S FILM INDUSTRY BY HELPING WOMEN DREAM

CATHERINE W GICHUKI

DOHA SUDANESE film director Abdulrahman Najdi has been a role model and a mentor for aspiring film makers for long. His latest project, ‘Voices of Women’ gave young Qatari women aged between 17 and 25 a chance to learn the art from the master.

Organised by the Girls Creativity Center and supported and funded by the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the project aims at empowering women.

Speaking to Qatar Tribune recently, Najdi who also serves as Qatar Cinema & Film Distribution Company’s deputy general manager, said that as part of the project, he and other cinema experts ran a two-month workshop where the participants learnt the ropes of film making. The workshop even has a website of its own, he said.

The students learnt technical elements including those related to the use of cameras, building scenes, sound composition, editing and electronic montage in addition to managing the filmmaking process.

He reiterated that in the project, he has been working with ten young women who learn the art of film making. The end product will be five documentaries and short drama films that express their makers’ views on different aspects of lives.

“The workshops started in July last year and ended in October and they are now shooting the first documentary called ‘Censorship’. I am thrilled to see how the students are enthusiastic to learn video production,” he said.

According to him an overwhelming number of women showed interest in participating in the project adding that the sad part was that all could not be accommodated.

“We had over 300 girls who had applied to participate in this project. We did the selection by June and finally we came up with our ten participants. We started with the workshops in July and finished in October. Now we are shooting the first documentary on location,” said the soft-spoken film director.

Najdi added that the project will be completed by March and hopes the films and documentaries will be featured in the Al Jazeera and Doha Tribeca Film Festivals.

He added that it was through initiatives like ‘Voices of Women’ that they are contributing to the significant development of the film industry in Qatar.

According to Najdi who has been in Qatar since 1990, the film industry has evolved significantly adding that when he had come to Qatar, women were less involved in the films and there were also very few cinemas.

“Qatar has ambitious plans to grow the film industry. Now there are about 50 cinemas in Doha and I believe they will increase to 70 to 90 by the end of this year. Qatar Cinema has eleven, City Center and Villaggio Cinemas about 15 each, not naming other places like Katara, Landmark, Royal Plaza and the Mall Cinemas. When I first came to Qatar, there were only two cinemas and they screened Asian movies only,” he said.

He reiterated that the film industry has seen a significant change especially in the last ten years and the future is really promising.

“Now we have institutions like the Doha Film Institute (DFI) which has contributed greatly to the sector. We also have film festivals like the Al Jazeera and the Doha Tribeca Film Festivals, that promote film and film makers,” he pointed out.

Praising the Qatari cinema market he said, “The cinema halls screen the latest releases.

Now we are showing the movies released on the same day as the United States. Doha now shows all the Oscar winners and other important global movies. The facilities here are world-class,” he said.

He however, said that a lot more has to be done to empower youngsters in film industry.

“Through workshops, youngsters are trained to make movies. A director is not the only person involved in film making.

Photographers and other members of the camera crew as well as editors, are as important to the process. Workshops for development of these skills should be held as well,” he said.

Najdi’s seven minute animation film, Bouzzana won a prize at the Cairo Film Festival. In the course of work, Najdi has encountered several public figures including Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as he worked on his previous project that involved young Qatari men and women.

Najdi completed his course in Television production Techniques and film making in 1982, in London International School.

Before then, he was at Sudan College of Drama. He has also taught drama at the Sudan’s High Institute of Music and Drama and been a jury member in the Arab Film Festival, besides others.

Talking about film industry he said, “I believe being a film maker is a good profession.

One has to be very creative. You have to be open-minded and know what is happening around you. Cinema is very influential. It’s the most powerful tool in the history of mankind. We live in the visual age,” he concluded.

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