The right direction

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A Dodge Charger performs a burnout for Bouri’s self funded film The Twelfth Task; Bouri claims that without funding, the Dubai film industry is also headed for burnout.

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Improvisation on the set of The Twelfth Task: a blue-screen shot.

Filmmaker Maurice Bouri and his friends, Ziad and Jad Oakes, just happened to all be in Dubai at the same time for a few days last summer. Oakes had just bought a new digital SLR and was snapping away as the three drove around Dubai. Meanwhile, another filmmaker, Yosef Khouwes was back in the city after completing his studies at the New York film school in Hollywood.

Both groups decided at the last minute to enter last year's MINI Film Festival , a competition organised by BMW - open to anyone with a camera.

Both claim they have benefited more from this decision than from the presence of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in the region.

The high profile DIFF has certainly added to the publicity Dubai garners all around the world. Big names, big films, big parties and all the trappings of an international film festival. Well, almost.

"I am not convinced DIFF provides a platform for people doing low budget or even no-budget projects," says Bouri, who is now based in Dubai. "All of the other big international film festivals always have room for something new or for young filmmakers. This one has offered nothing."

DIFF, however, did launch the Muhr Awards for Excellence last year purely to encourage more participation from young Arab filmmakers.

Bouri and Oakes won the US $1350 people's choice award at the MINI Film Festival for their film Buzz of Dubai made entirely from the still shots taken by Jad. Bouri is now working on hi+s first full-length feature film The Twelfth Task - an opportunity he feels has come from his win at the MINI Film Festival.

"I've won an award, I was part of something that was pretty well publicised; everyone knew about it, and so I managed to put together a crew of 25-30 people who have stayed together with me for the last seven months [of filming]. I think that has come about because they know that we managed to pull something off last year."

Khouwes, a Venezualen with a Syrian background, came second at the MINI festival last year. He also feels that the recognition from winning an award has helped. He is now working on the film version of Mariam Mulla's novel Zaman al Saber or Time of Patience, about life in the UAE before the country struck oil.

"Two things helped the offer come to me. First, the fact that I studied in Hollywood and second, that I won the award," he confides.

Khouwes feels that film festivals and competitions are a good way for people to feel like they are participating even if they don't walk away with a prize. However, he decries the lack of ample financial support for such projects in the region.

"What we really need help with is the finance. I am now looking for financiers for Zaman al Saber but we are a little handicapped because there is no funding.

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