Casa Árabe is presenting a new film series devoted to productions from the United Arab Emirates, after having put on the series it already scheduled back in 2018 with films by such acclaimed directors as Nujoom Alghanem and Ali F. Mustafa. The fact is that over the last few years the film industry in the United Arab Emirates has undergone exponential growth, something which is becoming increasingly acknowledged as a result of the considerable number of film productions which have come to light in that country or which have been directed by filmmakers from the Emirates. This country’s is a cinema which reflects the huge variety and linguistic and cultural diversity of a cosmopolitan society in which over two hundred different nationalities have been living side-by-side for decades, only 10% of the local population having come originally from the nation itself. This variety of peoples and cultures is the result of the economic development that the country has been experiencing since the early 1970s because of oil exploitation. This development has allowed Dubai and Abu Dhabi to become one of the most important focal points for creativity, production and co-production in the entire Middle East. Similarly, over the last decade a new generation of Emirati directors has made its way onto the scene, trained in the country and abroad, and they are changing the audiovisual map of the UAE. Due to all of this, United Arab Emirates film, which is increasingly holding a key place in film production while becoming an important player within the international film market, is a clear example of the changes, advancements and transformations being experienced by the region.

This film series will be complemented by the screening of four short-subject films, Escape, Temporarily Disconnected, Beshkara  and Maryam, which were presented at the latest edition of the Sharjah Film Festival.

This special programming was made possible as a result of the collaboration between Casa Árabe, the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Madrid and the Embassy of Spain of Abu Dhabi.

The official event for presenting the film series was held in Madrid on Friday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m., and was presented by the Ambassador of the UAE in Spain, Majid Al-Suwaidi, and the General Director of Casa Árabe, Pedro Martínez Avial. The screenings scheduled for that date (the short-subject films “Temporarily Disconnected” and “Beshkara” and the full-length movie “Zinzana”) took place at the regularly scheduled time: 7:30 p.m. and they will be free of charge.