A showcase for Bahrain movies

THE first edition of the Gulf Film Festival are showcasing seven short and one feature film from Bahrain in the festival's 'in-competition' segment.

The chosen movies tackle diverse themes such as love, struggles, adultery and women's emancipation within the rapidly changing socio-economic landscape of the region.

Six of the short films appear in the 'in-competition' programme, and one in the student competition.

4 Girls by acclaimed director Hussain Abbas Al Hulaibi has been selected as one of the entries in the feature films competition.

The film tells the story of four struggling young women from different cultural backgrounds who unite to solve their financial crisis. The movie addresses the subject of women's emancipation, challenging prejudices and customs in a male-dominated society.

Despite facing innumerable challenges such as filming at different sites, gaining permission from governmental departments, a change of cast and a tight budget, the crew wrapped up shooting in less than 20 days.

Complete with humour, romance and tragedy, 4 Girls attempts to portray a contemporary image of Bahrain.

Penned by script writer Hamad El Shahabi, the film portrays how they set up an all-women car wash company and the prejudices they have to confront.

Produced by the Bahrain Film Production Company the film had a BD250,000 budget and editing and final production was carried out in India.

The cinema industry in Bahrain is starting to grow and already three other feature films - Al Hajiz (The Barrier), 1990, Za'er (Visitor), 2004 and Hekaya Bahrainiya (A Bahraini Tale), 2006, have been made by filmmaker Basam, who is executive producer of this offering.

The main cast and characters of 4 Girls are:

Hiba el Durri as Noura

Hiba plays the role of Noura, a public relations graduate who is unable to find a job. She finally agrees to work at a car wash company inherited by her aunt (played by Souad Ali). Noura has a past. She is a divorcee who was married to a religious fundamentalist and is now engaged to Hassan (played by Hasan El Majed) who does not want her to work in the car wash company.

Hiba, 25, from Egypt, has been an actress since her teens and dreams of winning a starring role in Egyptian cinema one day. She has played several tragic and comic roles in theatre and television. A very popular actress in Bahrain, she was recently seen on the Kuwaiti Television series called Al Kharraz or Cobbler.

4 Girls is her first feature film that she finds very challenging. She is a fan of Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan and Hollywood actors Johny Depp, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jodie Foster. Off screen she is a doctor of genetics and immunology and runs a regular practice in Kuwait.

Ibtissam Atawi - Iman

The 25-year-old Ibtissam portrays a carefree girl who is light-hearted, funny and loud. She is unable to find a job anywhere ... until the car wash post becomes vacant.

Ibtissam, from Muharraq, has been an actress since the age of 13 and has acted in several television serials. 4 Girls, she said was a big step in her career. She says the film will send out a "deep and provocative message in a very simple way". Ibtissam is married to policeman Mahmood Al Atawi and they have two children - Ahmed, 8, and Shahad, 6.

Shayma Janahi - Amal

Shayma, from Arad, plays the part of a girl abused by her alcoholic step-father. She escapes and finally makes her way to the car wash company.

Coming from a filmmaker's family Shayma has been acting since the age of five. Her father Mohammed Janahi is an established director and cameraman in Bahrain and her younger brother Hisham, 13, is an actor. This is her second feature film having acted earlier in Hekaya Bahrainiya.

Dareen Khaled - Maryam

Dareen is the 'new face' of the Bahraini film industry. In her role as Maryam, she is a serious, hardworking daughter of a divorced mother who does not believe in confining herself to her house. Maryam is concerned about the way people talk about her mother although she does not agree with them. Her fiancŽ, played by popular singer Khaled Fouad, is highly protective and believes that working in a car wash company is not becoming of a young girl.

Dareen, 24, is a management and literature graduate from Trent University in Canada. This is her first major film role.

Souad Ali - Rayhana

Veteran Bahraini actress Souad Ali is the most experienced of the 4 Girls cast. Her role is that of 'the aunt' who owns the car wash company and is the manageress running the company with the four young girls.

Souad is excited about the message that this film holds for young people in Bahrain.

She likes the idea that people should overcome obstacles and believes that the film will create change and be remembered for its radical ideas.

She has earlier acted in Al Hajiz and another Kuwaiti feature film.

Several of the short films from Bahrain on show at the festival deal with struggle and change: 'The Coma' by Jamal Ghailan and first time director Sadeq Mohammad Jaafar Alsmak's 'Expatiated' depict the unexpected turns in life and the uncertainty and intrigue they bring, while, young Hussain Al Riffaei's 'A Dinner' explores the taboo subject of adultery and its consequences in a Muslim state, presented as a dialogue between a girl and her family and Mohammed Rashid BuAli's 'Absence' deals with the poignant subject of loneliness in a fast-moving society.

In a different vein, 'Bluetooth' by Nidhal Bader and debuting Abdul Ameer Howaidah's 'Remote Control' highlight various usages for technology in present day society.

'Remains of a Wound' by Mohammed Ebrahim Mohammed depicts the strength and fight against suffering and is the lone selection to the in-competition shorts for students.

The Gulf Film Festival began on Sunday and ends on Friday at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Center at Mall of Emirates.

The festival will also screen 15 films from Iraq which depict a wide range of human emotions caused by the worsening internal political situation in the troubled nation. They examine the consequences of the ongoing war, and question issues such as relocation, youth and terrorism and sectarian violence.

Ahlaam by Mohammed Al Daradji, the official selection to the feature competition, deals with the lives of three Iraqis within the bombed ruins of a psychiatric hospital. The film moves between the past and present struggles of the trio caught up in the chaos wrought by America's 'shock and awe' campaign. It was named Best Film at this year's Bangladesh Film Festival.

The official entries to the 'in-competition' documentary segment depict the struggles of different segments of the Iraqi society. Directed by Tariq Hashim, www.gilgamesh.21 depicts two Iraqis, one in exile in Denmark and one in Baghdad, communicating through the internet.

Hadi Mahood's Nights of Gypsy's Descent, revolves around the lives of gypsies subjected to hatred following the fall of the regime in 2003. The film beautifully captures the depth of despair and destruction in the daily lives of a gypsy village; One Day in Khadimya Prison for Women by Oday Salah depicts the life of Iraqi women in the war-ravaged nation and War, Love. God and Madness by Al Daradji leads us on a voyeuristic journey inside Iraq as fiction and reality blur in the gritty aftermath of 25 years of dictatorship, three wars and the wake of three occupations.

The Death Road, directed by Sanan Najim, selected for the 'in-competition shorts' segment, revolves around the everyday dangers faced by taxi drivers in the Iraqi capital, turning innocent people into terrorists. The other selection to the shorts category includes Assad Kareem Alwan's Dar Dur, which focuses on the depilating economic situation in Iraq and the failure of successive governments to combat poverty and death.

Entries to the student category, both shorts and documentary, are well represented with a total of eight entries from Iraq: Personal Calendar and Perforated Helmet take the honours in the 'In-Competition Shorts for Students' segment. Personal Calendar, directed by Basheer Al Majid, delves into the internal political crisis of Iraq whereas Mustafa Hadi Hamzah's Perforated Helmet depicts the trials and tribulations of a child who loses his father in the war.

'In-Competition Documentaries by Students' include Staying by Mounaf Shaker, which revolves around the stress and pressure families go through in present day Iraq, going about their daily lives amidst killings and bombings; Hiba Bassem's Thinking of Leaving depicts the confused and shifting mindsets of people forced to live in the war ravaged city with constant fear of death and uncertainty, Leaving directed by Bahram Al Zuhairi documents the painful process of a family's relocation to their new home in a foreign land; Dr Nabil by Ahmad Jabbar explores the varied emotions and dilemmas of a doctor committed to his nation and profession and a father scared of the effects of war on his son; Stranger In His Own Country by Hassanain Al Hani narrates the story of a displaced family head trying to survive and provide for his family in difficult times and A Candle for the Shabandar cafŽ by Emad Ali is an auto-biographical account of the ruins of Iraq's cultural and literary history in the wake of fresh attacks.