Some of the young Emirati filmmakers who travelled to Paris during the summer to study at La Fémis had never heard of the internationally renowned film school when they applied to it – or even seen a French or European film.
Five Emiratis were among the successful applicants for the Gulf Summer University Programme, an intensive five-week course that was a collaboration between the French Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Image Nation (a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media, the publisher and owner of The National) and the sponsors, Total. We caught up with them at a welcome -home reception hosted by Michel Miraillet, the French ambassador.
Aiham Al Subaihi from Sharjah, who is studying at the New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi, says he heard about the course from a friend who works at New York University in the capital.
"She'd received an email looking for students but it clashed with her schedule, so she passed it on to me," he explains. "It meant I'd be a week late for the start of the new term, but I spoke with the film academy about it and they were very supportive.
"So I sent in my short mockumentary, Of Cats and Men – about a family whose son spends his whole life in a cat costume – for consideration and was accepted."
Al Subaihi admits he hadn't heard of La Fémis before applying and he soon realised he had a lot to learn about French cinema.
"When I researched La Fémis, I realised it was a really big deal, but I still had no real expectations," he says. "We were nine students from very different levels, so I didn't know what to expect, but I learnt loads about European cinema. We're not really exposed to it here where it's all Hollywood, and my own style is very Hollywood, too. We were introduced to a whole new world of cinema that I had no clue about.
"It was intense. We had classes from 9.30am till 6pm every day, then a screening of a French film every evening for the first week. Even after the screenings, someone from the industry would talk about the film, which was good, as sometimes I was confused about the structure of the film or the character development, because I'm not used to these kind of films.
"I understood and appreciated more every day and now I have all these French films and directors that I know and talk about. It was an amazing experience."
Mohammed Suwaidan, an applied media graduate from Dubai, heard about the course from a French friend who had graduated from La Fémis, and whose graduation film he had helped with when she shot it in Dubai.
Like Al Subaihi, he found that he was discovering a whole new style of filmmaking in France.
"We got to experience French cinema, which we never had any background, information or resources on before," he says.
Suwaidan was also impressed with the quality of the teachers.
"We were meeting and learning from people from the industry, instead of a professor who has spent the past 10 years in a classroom," he says.
"It was still quite strange for us at first, as most of them didn't have much time for Hollywood, but they loved Italian and British cinema, which we knew nothing about. We were learning a whole new cinematic language."
Shahad Al Shehhi, from Abu Dhabi, works for Image Nation and has been part of the crew on documentaries, TV shows and the 2013 feature film Djinn.
She was also impressed by the standard of teaching on the course.
"It was great to meet directors and producers from the French industry, and shooting in France was amazing," she says. "Outside the course, the friends we made were great. We became a really tightly bonded group."
During the reception at the Abu Dhabi ambassador's residence, the organisers of the summer school announced that the films the students completed during their time in France would receive their official public premiers during the Dubai International Film Festival in December.
Miraillet and the Image Nation chief Michael Garin also revealed that they hope to make it an annual event.
Miraillet told the students and industry guests: "My embassy will put all our efforts into creating another successful summer school next year."
Al Subaihi had this advice for any students considering making the trip next year: "It's an amazing experience. Go, experience it, learn, then come back and share what you've learnt. You won't regret it."
cnewbould@thenational.ae
