Abu Dhabi, October 24: Believe in yourself, follow your dreams and be persistent. This pieces of advice was imparted by celebrated Emirati film-maker Nayla Al Khaja to women university students during the education session titled ‘Inspiring Women to Envision their Dream’ last week at NAJAH, the region’s premier education, training and careers exhibition.
Recounting her experiences before her enthralled audience, Al Khaja related the challenges she faced primarily because of her culture, and traditional and conservative upbringing.
Overcoming the obstacles was not an easy task, she said, especially as an Arab woman trying to set out on what was perceived to be a male-dominated field.
Instead of getting daunted by the barriers, it only drove her to find other means of achieving what she set her heart on – to becoming a film producer.
According to her parents’ wishes, she got married first, then pursued her education. But with her ambition closer to her heart, her marriage was shortlived.
Her first success came after finishing the Bachelor’s degree in Image Studies in Filmmaking with honours from Ryerson University in Canada. As the only woman student in her class, the challenge for her was how to fit in, which she did eventually, but only after two years.
Soon after graduation, Al Khaja founded her own company, D-Seven Motion Pictures, in 2005 and has been working on various documentaries and commercials.
During her speech, Al Khaja stressed the importance of persistence, passion and determination in order to succeed.
Emphasising the gap in the market for a studio system, Al Khaja noted the advantages of being the only local film producer and company in the UAE.
She said many international companies appreciate the benefits of working with a UAE company that has the access and the connection.
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Al Khaja discussed the advantage of being a woman producer in the UAE.
“As a woman producer, I have greater advantage because there’s this whole mandate behind pushing women in media, so they want to encourage you, it’s actually a good thing,” she said.
However, the challenge lies in being the only local producer. “I need more producers to work with because it’s huge gigantic project, I need someone to help me and raise funds with me,” in order to produce feature films, Al Khaja said.
What’s new on the horizon for Al Khaja? She has a new prospect – the establishment of the first private film fund – in collaboration with the Rights Lawyers, a private firm that has done contractual works for ‘The Kingdom’ and ‘Syriana’, to produce genre films.
“The idea is to make four to five feature films within the next two to three years,” said Al Khaja.
She declined to reveal further saying a formal announcement will be made in December during the Dubai International Film Festival.
Al Khaja was one of the panel of judges for documentary films at the recently concluded Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, where she shared the task with renowned Iranian film director, screenwriter and film producer Abbas Kiarostami along with other highly rated film-makers.
Her company, D-Seven, is currently producing ‘High Goal’, a film about polo which was shot in four countries. D-Seven has also worked on commissioned projects such as Nike, Adidas and BMW TV commercials and with the UAE government for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Special Olympics.
–Agencies