Nayla Al Khaja, 31, is the first women filmmaker of Emirate. She graduated form Dubai Women’s College with a degree in Mass Communication in 1999, and continued her at Ryerson University in Toronto and majored in film directing with a minor in film producing. On 2004 she made her first film Unveiling Dubai. For which she won the Best Emirati Filmmaker at the festival.The film went on to premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). She also won the British Council’s International Young Screen Entrepreneur Award in 2010.
When asked by Doha Film Institute how she felt about the attention that she was reciving she replied, “it’s because I am a woman. There’s a whole notion about female empowerment going on, especially in the Middle East, where a lot of countries are being poked at because women are not getting much” She also said this is a bigger challenge because she is a women, “and I have to take it seriously. We can use this attention in order to create beautiful films that can have an impact in our society, and in other people’s as well.” Nayla, has also become a inspiring figure for young Emarati women, she says that she receives emails from young women who ask for advice on “how and where to start.” Continue reading the interview.
Nayla is the CEO of her production company D-SEVEN Motion Pictures. She also won a few awards for her film Malal, which is based on a true life story. It won the Best Script Award in the Gulf Film Festival in 2010, and first place in the Muhr Emirati category. It’s a film about a couple in their honeymoon and the inspiration that the women found on the last day of their honeymoon.
A interview about the film Malal (‘Boredom’)
http://vimeo.com/13131374
Arabana (2006)
Is a short film of a young girl who due to lack of attention from family members found attention from another stranger.
http://vimeo.com/14136112
BLOOM! Cine Startups - Canon & D-SEVEN Press Conference
http://vimeo.com/20424752
Nayla is currently working on a reality show called Nayla’s 100. That will deal with different nationalities in Emirates.
Work Cited:
http://www.naylaalkhaja.com/
http://vimeo.com/user4208487
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-04/world/uae.female.filmmaker_1_united-arab-emirates-middle-east-pedophilia?_s=PM:WORLD
One thing that I find interesting about this filmmaker is how broad her work is! She's interested in writing, directing, producing and everything from short independent films to reality tv to documentaries. I think it's valuable for women who are filmmakers to work within the context of independent film but it's also inspiring to see women who aim for something bigger and broader and are completely confident and unapologetic about it.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to what Mary said on her post, I found it interesting that Nayla Al Khaja, actually opened her own production company. I have never heard of any female in the Middle East to do such a big thing
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