The Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation will be launching the first activity of ‘Al Owais Film Club’ on Thursday, October 28, 2021. Al Owais Film Club is a new initiative that has been added to the Foundation’s repertoire of cultural projects, which aims at screening notable and award-winning local, Arab and international films that are often not seen by the public, and hosting discussions about them in the aim of cultivating visual literacy in the community.
In its debut event, the Al Owais Film Club will screen a collection of short films by director Saleh Karama Al Ameri, which represent a rich experience of documenting local life through a life-friendly cinematic vision. Al Ameri’s film, ‘Tawzee’a’- named as ‘Best Short’ at Berlin Film Festival and one of the films on the top movies list in Mexico- will be screened at the event. The film depicts a number of children playing football in a local neighborhood, and their frustration when their ball is kicked out to the road and is run over by a passing car, ending their innocent fun and compelling to return to their homes in disappointment. The film tackles the philosophy of grief and how the machine crushes innocence.
The second film to be screened at the event is ‘Kharji Ala Al Sath’ (Out on the Roof), in which we see a young girl hanging laundry on the roof of her house at a local neighborhood, while wearing traditional clothes and a sheila (headscarf). When a storm erupts and her scarf is blown away by the wind, the girl uses a white towel from the laundry she was hanging and covers her hair with it in a simple and spontaneous gesture that is documented by the camera within the framework of deep psychological and social references.
The third film to be screened at the event will be ‘Sayreen Al Ghos’ (Going Diving), which is a documentary film that sheds light on the historical profession of diving in the Arabian Gulf by following a number of individuals who belong to different generations on a diving trip. The sons accompany the fathers on a voyage that brings back to mind the profession of the forefathers, and the camera captures the tools used for pearl-diving and opening oysters, and the rituals of returning back to shore with the melodies of Al Nahham (singer) in the background.
The film screenings will be attended by director Saleh Karama Al Ameri and critic Abdullah Hassan and the audience will get the chance to discuss the films with them.
It is worth mentioning that Al Owais Film Club is the first experience of its kind in this domain to be offered by the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation to culture and film enthusiasts. Moreover, the Al Owais Film Club will also feature independent films produced by individuals which reflect rich talents in the fields of filmography, screenwriting or film criticism.
