Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Monday 28 august 2017
Emirati filmmaker unsettles traditions, exposes hidden lives

By AYA BATRAWY cally intimate. theaters in Saudi Arabia, a
Associated Press Egyptian cinema — the handful of films have been
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- oldest and most revered shot there in recent years.
ates (AP) — An Emirati film- film industry in the Arab In Kuwait, which once held
maker is pushing bound- world — has tackled ho- the mantle for Gulf the-
aries and bypassing state mosexuality in film since the atrical productions, cen-
censors by delicately un- 1950s, though often por- sors pulled Disney’s new
raveling a story about traying it as something that Beauty and the Beast from
a traditional Arab fam- exists among a progressive theaters this year after the
ily grappling with issues of minority. Gay characters public’s reaction to what
homosexual love, gender have also been portrayed Disney called its first “gay
identity, sectarianism and in some films as psychologi- moment” for a character.
women’s rights. cally ill or are punished in Homosexuality and cross-
In this Aug. 18, 2017 photo, Emirati filmmaker Abdulla Al Kaabi The movie focuses on a some way. dressing are forbidden in
speaks to The Associated Press in Dubai after screening his film
Only Men Go To The Grave. conservative Iraqi fam- Tunisian cinema has also the predominantly Muslim
Associated Press ily who begin seeing and depicted homosexuals in Gulf. A popular transgen-
unearthing one another’s movies since the 1970s, der social media star said
secrets after the family ma- while a genre of so-called she was denied entry to
triarch goes blind and dies. queer cinema is currently Dubai by airport officials
What makes the film “Only surfacing among Leba- last year because her pass-
Men Go To the Grave” par- nese filmmakers. port still listed her as “male.”
ticularly avant-garde is that Egyptian film critic Joseph In Saudi Arabia, homosexu-
the homosexual characters Fahim said Al Kaabi’s film als and cross-dressers can
are not simply supporting appears to be the first be imprisoned, fined and
characters or portrayed as made by an Arab Gulf film- lashed. Earlier this year,
Westernized or globalized maker to tackle the issue Saudi police raided a gath-
elites, like past characters of homosexuality in such a ering of men dressed in
in other famous Arabic candid manner. women’s clothing outside
films. Rather, the film’s stars “It shows that this is com- the capital, Riyadh. A Paki-
are homosexual lovers who ing from within, especially stani arrested in the raid
are also traditional Arab that the director casts no later died in police custo-
mothers, wives and care- judgmental eye on it ... he dy under unclear circum-
takers. treated it in a matter-of- stances.
The movie, by filmmaker fact way, not as a disease. Though rare, judges in Sau-
Abdallah Al Kaabi, also re- That is also a major step- di Arabia, Iran, Iraq and a
veals its central male char- ping stone,” Fahim said. handful of other countries
acter to be struggling with It took Al Kaabi six years to can issue the death pen-
his masculinity and gen- complete the ambitious alty in cases of same-sex
der. In possibly the movie’s project, which was award- relations.
boldest scene, the charac- ed best Emirati film at the Possibly for this reason, Al
ter dresses in full makeup, a Dubai International Film Kaabi prefers to describe
wig, jewelry and a dress. Festival in 2016 — the year the relationship between
Most surprisingly, the Arabic it was produced. the women in his film as “al-
film passed state censors Al Kaabi grew up in the ternative love.”
to screen at major movie smaller emirate of Fujairah Still, throughout most of
theaters across Dubai this along the Gulf of Oman. the Middle East, there is a
month. The United Arab With little entertainment narrow margin of accep-
Emirates, and Dubai spe- around him, he would ven- tance for transgender indi-
cifically, are more liberal ture out to the emirate’s viduals and homosexuality
and seen as more toler- only video store and rent so long as it isn’t visible to
ant than other parts of the VHS tapes. It sparked in him the public. More recently,
Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia, a love for cinema. some Gulf countries have
where there are no movie “My pastime was to travel begun considering laws
theaters. and dream through movies that would permit gender
Al Kaabi says he believes so I was watching a lot of reassignment.In the UAE,
the film’s handling of ho- Hollywood movies, Egyp- two Emirati women are pe-
mosexuality and gender tian movies and Bollywood titioning the courts to be
identity helped propel it to movies,” he said. recognized as males. Last
the big screen. After vacationing in Iran, Al year, the UAE approved a
“A movie in the end is a sto- Kaabi was awed with the law that would allow gen-
ry and people don’t really country’s vibrant film scene der reassignment surgery
have a problem with what in the southern city Ahvaz, for those who psychologi-
you talk about in the story, known for its ethnic diver- cally identify as the oppo-
but they have a problem sity. He decided to shoot site sex.The scene of the
with how you expose it,” he his debut feature film there male character dressed as
told The Associated Press using Iranian actors of Arab a woman, shocking for its
after a screening of the heritage and actors from raw and rare portrayal of a
film. “I think you need to Iraq.Across the Gulf, there transgender character, left
show good taste when you are varying degrees of one young Emirati college
talk about controversial censorship and support for student perplexed.
and taboo issues,” he said. independent filmmakers “There are things I really
The lovers in his film are like Al Kaabi. didn’t understand in the
never shown being physi- Despite there being no movie, like the man. q