Within the activities of Al Owais Film Club, the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation has hosted a screening of the movie “Asal wa Matar wa Trab” (Honey, Rain and Dust) on Tuesday evening, February 28, 2023. The event featured film director Nujoom Al Ghanem and an audience of film enthusiasts who enriched the discussion that followed the screening with their ideas and viewpoints regarding how to enrich this cultural genre and continue to establish its presence in the cultural arena.

The script and dialogue of “Honey Rain and Dust” is written by poet Khaled Al Budoor in collaboration with Nujoom Al Ghanem, and the film crew includes Ghareeb Al Yamahi, Fatima Sanad, Aesha Al Naqbi and Fatima Al Naqbi, while the film is produced by Nahar Productions.

The film sheds light on the journey of Aesha and Ghareeb, who roam the mountains of the Northern Emirates in a search for wild bees. Everyday, they face various challenges and hurdles as they climb the mountains and face dangers, however they recount a simple tale filled authentic elements from the local environment, which the film director sought out to document to be a reference for researchers and enthusiasts in the future.

Speaking after the film screening, director Nujoom Al Ghanem said that the movie was filmed over two years as the film crew waited for the cycle of Nature and the changing seasons to capture good shots of this noble creature. Moreover, each character in the film played themselves in real life without further interference, which added to the positivity of the film and was a source of joy to have completed such a production with high aesthetic value.

On the other hand, poet Khaled Al Budoor said that poet Abdul Aziz Jassim is the one who suggested the idea of the film, which was then transformed into scenes, as there was no script in the traditional sense. However, there were detailed visual scenes that reflect movement, which were recorded and edited to obtain a shot or two.

Moreover, the audience participated in the discussion and asked about the length of the film and the duration of the filming process and the challenges faced by the crew as well as filming at night and how the latest filming techniques were utilized to come up with a film with such high quality.

At the conclusion of the event, Dr. Fatima Al Sayegh, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation presented the Foundation’s commemorative shield to director Nujoom Al Ghanem and thanked her for the great efforts she is making to develop local filmmaking. In turn, Al Ghanem thanked Al Owais Cultural Foundation for its active role in offering exquisite cultural activities to enrich the local cultural scene.

It is worth mentioning that Nujoom Al Ghanem is an Emirati novelist, poet and film director. She obtained a BA in TV production and directing from the United States and completed her master’s degree in film directing in Australia. She directed a number of short films including: “Ice-cream”, “The Garden”, “Between Two River-banks”, in addition to long documentaries such as: “The Seeker”, “Dove”, “Hope” and “Red, Blue, Yellow”.

It also deserves mention that script-writer Khaled Al Budoor is a poet, translator and heritage researcher. His books include: “Night, Ink and Courtship” and “Winter and Rain on the Sea”.