DUBAI // After the lights go up on another satisfied audience at The Scene Club and they drift away to relax and mull over its latest cinematic offering, the driving force behind the venture will certainly not be putting her feet up. For Nayla al Khaja, 31, the idea of taking a break is anathema. She has achieved so much already it is hard not to wonder where her energy comes from the award-winning filmmaker is also a movie producer and production company director, fundraiser, painter, writer and presenter. Upon meeting her, it becomes clear that she operates at a pace few could match. "Film is a very hyper medium to be in and I'm naturally hyper so it fits my nature," she says. Ms al Khaya, the first female Emirati to make it as a movie producer and director, says her burning desire is to develop a film industry in the UAE to rival the best in the world. As part of that ambition she is currently trying to raise US$10 million (Dh36.7m) to fund UAE-based films and encourage Arab talent. "Film here is at its embryonic stages, it's a very young industry. Hollywood, Bollywood, Iran, Egypt - some of those film industries are over 100 years old, so for us to reach that level we need time," she says. "We are still not completely ready to make films on our own; for us to speed the process we need to co-produce right now." To that end, four years ago Ms al Khaja set up her own production company, D-Seven Motion Pictures, based in Dubai, and has directed several "shorts" of her own. Ms al Khaja says she likes to "challenge" and the subjects of her films are a testament to that. She made her first film, called Arabana, in 2006. It was a bold, six-minute short tackling the issue of child abuse and paedophilia. Once, one of her latest ventures, is no less daring, charting "the anxiety, fear and excitement" of Emirati girls who go on secret dates. "They are topics I relate to, whether through me or my friends and sisters," she says. "Topics that have never been exposed on film or discussed openly, and I feel passionate about them so I think it's important to bring awareness to such topics." To help further local interest in the UAE's fledgling movie business, Ms al Khaja founded The Scene Club in Dubai in 2007 and it now draws hundreds of people to its monthly screenings. It is, she says, dedicated to improving the country's cinematic offerings by showing independent films from all over the world free of charge. Her list of other accomplishments is equally impressive: disc jockey, special-effects artist, journalist and teacher. Not content with that, she has also thrown herself into several charitable projects, too, and likes to paint and write poetry. But it is filmmaking that most attracts her. "I remember walking down the stairs one day and I stopped, I was just seven or eight, and I thought, 'How can I walk without someone turning my key, like on the back of a doll?'" she says. "I wondered, 'What makes me walk?' Every since I've been interested in movement and motion and energy, and film has all of that." Ms al Khaja originally studied fine art and graphic design and attended Dubai Women's College. "What I like about art is that it gives you the freedom to express yourself on paper. But I get very lonely. I would spend a whole day in my studio and not see people," she says. Just before gaining her diploma in 1999, she had "stumbled" into filmmaking when she made a short documentary. "I just came across this whole new world of possibilities and I knew in my heart that film would give me the platform to express myself visually and also be around a lot of people. I love energy, and when you are around a lot of people there's a lot of action happening," she says. After a stint as a teaching assistant she worked as a presenter with the Arabian Radio Network for a year before, at just 22, taking up a place at Ryerson University in Toronto to study film. She graduated in 2005. Despite, she says, always having felt like a "misfit" and finding it difficult to fit in with some Arabic traditions here, Ms al Khaja chose to return to the UAE to work rather than remain overseas. "If I stayed in Canada, great; wonderful people, amazing country, complete freedom. But I wanted to be in a place where I could be a role model for a lot of young girls, and I think I can do that here," she says. "In Canada, I'd be a little fish in a big ocean, but here, the whole aquarium is mine and I can pioneer." Unsurprisingly for one dedicated to pushing the envelope of UAE filmmaking, her movie influences are somewhat uncompromising. "I'm a big fan of Stanley Kubrick. Clockwork Orange is a film that I absolutely adore," she says. "I like films that are dark and funny, and of course The Godfather. You cannot live and not watch The Godfather; it's a sin. I've seen it so many times." "The Exorcist is another masterpiece, simply because it was done in 1973 and the director's completely insane - to have that scene with a crucifix at that time, that's pretty daring." Long-term, Ms al Khaja aims to move behind the camera full-time and direct but for now she is concentrating on film production. "I love packaging, bringing people together and team leading," she says. "It would be such a blessing for me to work with a lot of international directors on films and produce their films. That would be the dream." In the meantime, she hopes her work will create a "ripple effect" among younger Emirati females. "Just last week one girl said to me, 'I want to do exactly what you're doing, I confronted my parents and I gave your name as an example of how it is possible.' "It touched me so much, it gave me goosebumps. If you affect someone's life like that it's incredible. "They could be role models in the future themselves. It's so important to inspire people in your own country." lmorris@thenational.ae
