Before signing up to complete The Tainted Veil, Nahla Al Fahad directed pop videos, TV serials and ads.
Before signing up to complete The Tainted Veil, Nahla Al Fahad directed pop videos, TV serials and ads.

Emirati filmmaker Nahla Al Fahad: ‘I always aim to make distinctive work’



Nahla Al Fahad, who has been quietly compiling a portfolio of work over the past 10 years, says her aim has always been to make films that are both original and offbeat.

When the in-demand Emirati director finally gets some time to herself, you would imagine she would allow herself a short moment of self-reflection.

Three years ago, Al Fahad was rushing around a Sharjah warehouse, coordinating lithe dancers as they gyrated to the sound of Diana Haddad's latest pop hit, Wadi Haki. Today, she's reflecting on her first documentary feature film, The Tainted Veil, which deals with attitudes towards the incredibly emotive subject of the hijab. And yet the only thing Haddad is wearing on her head in that pop video is a pair of large, bright pink headphones. "Well, I've always aimed to make distinctive work," Al Fahad says with a laugh. "Work that people can say: 'Yes, Nahla did that.'"

It's such dedication to her subject matter that has propelled Al Fahad to the point where her first soap opera, the Kuwait-based Wars of Hearts, will be broadcast on MBC1 after Ramadan. And later in the year, she will begin work on Maryam, her debut feature film, which she has written and will direct.

So although years of working on corporate videos, commercials and videos for government ministries, plus a regular diet of music videos, might have seemed prosaic, it was all part of a gradual process to improve and find her style. Meanwhile, people were watching her development with interest.

"The executive producer of The Tainted Veil, Sheikha Alyazia, selected me to direct because she'd seen my work," says Al Fahad. "I met her and was so excited by the project because the topic of the hijab is so emotive. So I did what I always do – I worked really hard.

“It was tricky, too, because obviously it was material Ovidio Salazar had shot [back in 2008]. So I spent months watching it all first. I needed to visualise how it might look by the end.”

Al Fahad was determined not to let this opportunity pass her by – not least because the chance to work on a 90-minute film is still rare. In a sense, her career mirrors the upturn in fortunes of the UAE film industry, given that Al Fahad graduated at the turn of the millennium.

"I wouldn't say it's easier to make films now than it was back then, but there is certainly more backing," she says. "We have the Dubai Film Festival where we can show our productions. And having Star Wars shoot here – obviously it was not an Emirati director in control, but broadly speaking, it means that people in the Emirates are working in films in all sorts of roles and that's important to get the sense of an industry.

“Ten years ago, it was difficult for someone like me to have a career in film. Right now, though, it’s really encouraging.

“What I would say is that it’s important not to get too obsessed with Emirati directors,” she says. “What’s more important is Emirati producers and production companies. That’s how you can start to make films and grow the industry.”

To that end, Al Fahad set up Beyond Productions in 2009, which helps up-and-coming filmmakers and students in the UAE and Lebanon. It also worked on The Tainted Veil and will be involved with her feature film.

"It's going quite well," she says. "I'm so excited about Maryam – hopefully we'll start filming at the end of August in the UAE and the UK. It's about the relationship between a girl and her grandfather, who she thinks has passed away while she studied in the UK. But she finds he is still alive and there are lots of adventures around that. I've spent three years writing it, so to see my debut feature get made will be a great thrill."

But before that there's the more pressing matter of a 30-part soap opera. Given she's spent so much time on Wars of Hearts, Al Fahad is endearingly excited about seeing it on the small screen after Ramadan. But it's understandable as it's another first for this ambitious and innovative director.

“Wars of Hearts was so much fun to do,” she says. “I enjoyed it a lot – it was my first drama series. I’m really happy at how it’s turned out.”

And as The Tainted Veil prepares to make the rounds of the festival circuit, "happy at how it's turned out" is a pretty apt way of describing Nahla Al Fahad's ­career, too.

• Visit www.beyondstudios.ae for more information

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Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
The specs: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

Price, base: Dh1.2 million

Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 725hp @ 6,500pm

Torque: 900Nm @ 1,800rpm

Fuel economy, combined:  12.3L / 100km (estimate)

Green ambitions
  • Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
  • Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
  • Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
  • Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water 
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V6%20and%20electric%20motor%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20power%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20700hp%20at%207%2C500rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20torque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20720Nm%20at%202%2C250rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eight-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E0-100km%2Fh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.0sec%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETop%20speed%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E330kph%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh1.14%20million%20(%24311%2C000)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt

Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure

Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers

Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised

Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels

At a glance

- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years

- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills

- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis

- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector

- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes

- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government

Kanye%20West
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ESSENTIALS

The flights 
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
 

The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Stage 5 results

1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:53

2 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team -

Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott - 

4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ  0:00:04

5 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) CCC Team 0:00:07

General Classification:

1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 20:35:04

2 Tadej Pogacar (SlO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01

3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33

4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:48

5 Rafał Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:11

The Good Liar

Starring: Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen

Directed by: Bill Condon

Three out of five stars

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

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