gulftoday.ae | Young filmmakers get a boost

DAY 3

Sharjah: The film industry is another area where the UAE will be known globally.

Photographer and executive film producer Beno Saradzic and three young aspiring movie directors gave this view to The Gulf Today when the third night of the “Twinge SHJ” rolled out seven short films for the “Reels of Sharjah” on Monday at the Maraya Art Centre of Al Qasba.
Saradzic, who hails from Slovenia and is an Abu Dhabi resident since 1991, said the movie industry in his adopted country was gaining ground.

With initiatives from both the government and private sectors, the scenario that the Emirati film industry would be at par or even much better than those from other countries was a possibility.

“Everybody wants to watch films and if one has the talent and the support he needs, then there is no reason for him not to be in the industry,” said Saradzic, whose 4.5-minute time lapse version of “Abu Dhabi 2011” shared centre stage with the short films of the University of Sharjah Electronic Media students Omar Tanira and Haneen Kanaan as well as Skyline University marketing degree holder Faisal Hashim.

Saradzic said his short movie is a collection of 21,000 photographs of the history of the capital collected in eight weeks.

Other short films shown ranging between an average of five and 10 minutes each were by Shahid Azam, Ashraf Ghori and Neel Kumar.

Hashmi said: “The UAE film industry is in its infancy but if you have a good one, it will be seen.” His film “Bubble” runs for eight minutes and is about two men caught in their respective dilemmas and how they cope with and overcome them.

Tanira and Kanaan are classmates. Tanira’s “Another Story”, which runs for six minutes and Kanaan’s “Al Shahid” that is also six minutes long, were made as part of their film class under Dr Fouad Abdul Aziz.

Asked how it feels at being invited to showcase their films to the urban and cultural art festival, Tanira said, excitedly: “It is a very good thing. It means we come from a good college.”

Both agreed their professor was a “really, really a very good professor with very, very good experience.”

Tanira said there were many budding filmmakers in the UAE.

For him, Emirati Hemaid Al Awadi was a “great, great director.”

“I hope people will love my movie,” said Kanaan.

She appreciated that young and unknown as they are now, they were invited to “Twinge SHJ.”

Maraya Art Centre curator Giussepe Moscatello said he was glad to be part of the festival since one of the missions of the gallery is to support emerging artists across the country.

For her, music is the food of creativity

By Mariecar Jara-Puyod

Sharjah: Make a statement. Be the statement. Salam Suwaidi does it through pieces of art jewellery. The dentist by profession was very precise, when asked for a description of her 19 pieces, currently on exhibit at the ongoing urban art and cultural festival, “Twinge SHJ,” at the Maraya Art Centre of Al Qasba.

“They are unusual. They are statement jewellery,” she said.

The 19 pieces are products of the imagination of the Sharjah

Calendar of events

Feb.28 - Laughter Therapy: A dose of comedy in Arabic, English and Urdu presented by Dubomedy.

Feb.29 - Kuttab Launch Night: Exclusive publishers’ night with Jamal Shihhi and Kuttab

Mar.1 - Rhythm Sessions: Night of music featuring The Abbo, Desert Heat, Tiny Hassan, Feras, Heba Rashid, Generation Band, and 4 Brownies.

Mar.2 - Magic of Poetry: Farrah Chamma, Muneer Jaehoon, Haneen Assaf, Abdulla Kassim, Shamma Kabital, Mohammad Azimudder, Asmaa and Afra Atiq will be taking the stage.

All events are being held at the Maraya Art Centre of Al Qasba. Doors open at 7pm and shows start at 8pm.

resident from Syria that is most active when she relaxes after her duty hours at the hospital, by listening to whatever music her gut feel dictates.

Through the flow of the rhythm and lyrics, Suwaidi merges and interweaves accoutrements collected from her forays in art and crafts stores.

These may be beads, buttons, shells, ribbons and ropes.

“Nothing is wasted. She is able to artistically (fashion) anything from whatever she can lay her on,” volunteered close pal Nadia El-Samsam.

“She does not even repeat anything. So each piece is definitely unique,” added El-Samsam.

To emphasise that Suwaidi’s musical-inspired creations are indeed statement pieces, El-Samsam shared her experience of getting the attention, as well as positive feedback, of colleagues and clients she had a business meeting with, when she wore a brooch, crafted by her friend, to securely clasp her scarf on her lapel.

For “Twinge SHJ,” Suwaidi’s interpretation of the song “Just Tonight,” is a set of brooches and pendants in black, silver and pearl.

Suwaidi explained “Just Tonight” is a song about sadness and despair.

As for the “Radioactive” set based on the song of the same title, the focus of attention is the shimmering triangle of a necklace, which for Suwaidi symbolises strength.

For her, “Radioactive” is a song about “desperate love.”

Suwaidi’s participation in the “Twinge SHJ” is her second exposure to activities that allow participants to display their talents.

Her first try was for her customised or personalised boxes at Dubai Festival City.

Suwaidi believes in the value of participating in exhibitions and the like, saying that if there is anything to show, then “why not?”

“If there is something that makes a person stand out, then, why not,” she continued.

When asked about her being a dentist and an art or statement piece jeweller on the side, Suwaidi who had enrolled in a “single silver moulding course” recently, replied, “Dentistry is also an art. They (profession and hobby) all match in the end.”

A recent study estimated that in general, the largest jewellery (whether these are genuine or fake gemstones or the ones belonging to the art noveau or art deco like statement pieces) market is the United States with a market share of 30.8 per cent.

The Middle East, Japan, India and China have a share each of eight to nine per cent

gulftoday.ae | Showcasing a passion for fashion

DAY 2

Three Arab expatriates, alumnae of the American University of Sharjah and the University of Sharjah, proved that apart from being adept at multitasking, women could also re-invent

SHARJAH: Baubles and bangles. Long gowns and scarves. And then some.

The Maraya Art Centre, the community arena for established as well as budding artists in the UAE, at the Al Qasba in Sharjah has also become the venue for emerging entrepreneurs, thanks to the urban and cultural festival, “Twinge SHJ”. The festival entered its second night on Sunday, where the passion for fashion was the underlying theme.

Three Arab expatriates, alumnae of the American University of Sharjah (AUS) and the University of Sharjah (US) , proved that apart from being adept at multitasking, women could also reinvent themselves.

That is, when they set their hearts on something they really want to do and when given the chance.

“When opportunity knocks, grab it,” said Eman A. Khattab.

“You have to know the market,” interjected Nemat B. El Shuloh.

Close friends since their university days at the AUS, both are now business partners through the one-month old Eclat.

Eclat, the French word for “ceremonial elegance, splendour, light and shimmer,” is their interpretation of trendy conservative fashion.

Wives and mothers, both expressed gratitude to the Sharjah Business Women’s Council as well, saying they got the support from the leadership and their co-members for leading them to the right people who could help them in their new endeavour.

Environmental scientist Khattab, who grew up dressing up her Barbie dolls and learning how to use the sewing machine with her mother, said all one has to do is “do not listen to people who say ‘no’.”

“We also have to love our work and be smart by knowing what is not available in the market,” she added.

Architect El Shuloh highlighted the virtues of courage, commitment and character, adding one should always look at the bright side of life.

Both said it took them one-and-a half years to start what they have been wanting to engage in, since their AUS days.

“All one has to do is go for it,” they both said.

For 20-year-old Leila Akeel, being a businesswoman is one of her goals.

The pharmacy student believes being in business is where she could be active.

Hence, from a hobby that she has been fond of - tinkering with damaged trinkets - ever since she could remember, Akeel has become an artist of handcrafted jewellery of gemstones her mother buys for her.

“I want to develop this into a very good business some day,” she said.

Sharjah urban art festival is a learning curve, says painter

By Mariecar Jara-Puyod

SHARJAH: Noha Mourad was born and raised in Abu Dhabi 28 years ago. She and her family used to enjoy the pristine waters of what would be internationally known as the Yas Island.

Today, those memories of tranquillity and simple pleasures, particularly when the fisherfolk taught them the simple rudiments of line fishing, would forever be in a canvas.

She told The Gulf Today the yearning to do something had always been there. But then, she did not know what it was. Her quest ended in 2007.

Calendar of events

Feb.27 - Reels of Sharjah: Screening of short films by Emirati and other UAE-based directors, namely Beno Saradzic, Shahid Azam, Faisal Hashmi, Ashraf Ghori, Haneen Kanaan, Omar Tanira and Neel Kumar.

Feb.28 - Laughter Therapy: A dose of comedy in Arabic, English and Urdu presented by Dubomedy.

Feb.29 - Kuttab Launch Night: Exclusive publishers’ night with Jamal Shihhi and Kuttab

Mar.1 - Rhythm Sessions: Night of music featuring The Abbo, Desert Heat, Tiny Hassan, Feras, Heba Rashid, Generation Band, and 4 Brownies.

Mar.2 - Magic of Poetry: Farrah Chamma, Muneer Jaehoon, Haneen Assaf, Abdulla Kassim, Shamma Kabital, Mohammad Azimudder, Asmaa and Afra Atiq will be taking the stage.

All events are being held at the Maraya Art Centre of Al Qasba. Doors open at 7pm and shows start at 8pm.

That was when, as a young mother in Cairo, Egypt, the art studio beside her home became the start of what she would be now - an artist indulging in oil painting.

The marketing graduate from the Arab Academy of Science and Technology in Alexandria, Egypt said those in the art studio who became her mentors and peers taught her everything she needed to know about painting.

From then on, Mourad found the discipline not only in the visual arts that need extra amounts of patience as it takes six months for an oil paint to dry up, but also discovered the need to create time as well as space for one’s self in order that anything of interest would lead to becoming a better person.

With over 20 paintings carrying her signature in a span of five years, the mother of two pre-school daughters is happily participating for the second time around at an urban arts festival that started in Dubai three months back and is now under way in Sharjah as “Twinge SHJ.”

A few hours before the curtains went up on Saturday evening at the Maraya Art Centre of Al Qasba, Mourad said Twinge has become a “learning experience” for her.

She welcomed the feedback about her works which may range from her interpretation of the Dubai Marina to how men and women relax.

“I get a whole lot of different points of view. It is a learning curve for me. What I do right, what I need to change,” she said, adding that while it is her mother Zeinab who has been the family’s artist all the way, it is her two daughters who sit down beside her whenever the muses call her to paint, who have become her critics.

“I know now when they do not like what I (sketch or play with the colours) on canvas,” Mourad said.

Eight of her paintings are on exhibit at the “Twinge SHJ” including her very first landscape, “Grand Tetons,” accomplished in half a year.

“I love details. That is why I do landscapes. I also love bright colours,” she said.

Mourad, who also does portraitures, admitted to have gained confidence from joining the urban art festival.

So far, six of her paintings had been sold, including two through “Twinge DXB.”

At the end of the interview, Mourad said of women who may be dilly-dallying on what they want to pursue in life: “Go ahead. It is very rewarding.”