Independent filmmaker Abdullah Al Eyaf discusses the trials and tribulations of pursuing his cinematic dreams in Saudi Arabia.
Tell us about your first production.
It was a short documentary called Cinema 500Kilometres, which focused on the cinema ban in Saudi Arabia, which was only recently lifted after more than 30 years.
It told the story of a Saudi national who travelled 500km from Riyadh to Manama in Bahrain, just to watch one film.
How was it received?
The film sparked a lot of discussion in the Saudi media about the reasons why cinemas were banned in Saudi. The film screened at various international festivals and it won the best documentary in the first Saudi Film Competition at Dammam in 2008.
You’ve also received recognition elsewhere in the region.
Yes, my second film, Etaar, screened at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in 2007 in a competition called A-Frame. It was the first Saudi film to be shown at DIFF.
My third film, called Matarr, (Arabic for rain), has screened in Lebanon, France, the United States and many other countries. It was also entered in the Gulf Voices competition at DIFF.
I was the co-creator of the first Arabic language website to discuss Western films and I was also the co-founder of the Saudi film competition.
My 38 days of annual vacation and my weekends are almost entirely devoted to making films and attending events like DIFF. All my films have been short films and were shot in either Khobar and Ammam in the Eastern Province.
You’ve achieved quite a lot given limited resources.
I work full-time as an engineer so I don’t have a lot of time to spend on my films. I would say that the production of Rain for example, took me only eight full days to film and edit.
For all three films I’ve borrowed or rented cameras from people as I don’t even have my own. For the first film I used three or four different cameras because I was shooting over eight months. So one friend would lend me his Panasonic HDC camera, and the other would lend me his MiniDV camera.
I used my own Handicam to shoot Etaar. The payoff was that it created a grainy, pixilated look. I would say that it is the most critically acclaimed work of mine. I used Panasonic MiniDV cameras in the production of Rain. I’m planning to shoot my next production in HD.
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