Independent programmer and film curator, CineMAS Film Festival at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi
It has become harder to maintain industry activity in the UAE following the cancellation of the Abu Dhabi and Dubai film festivals. “Art institutions should play a role in this,” says Hind Mezaina. “They should screen films the same way they present performances and visual arts. It’s a challenge I have taken on myself.”
Mezaina began her programming career after visiting the auditorium at the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi. “I asked what they planned to do with it, and when they answered, ‘Film programming,’ I wanted to be part of it,” she says.
In 2019, Mezaina worked with the Sharjah Art Foundation to programme three restored films, marking 10 years since the death of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine. After the pandemic, she worked with institutions in the UAE to bring audiences back to cinemas and encourage them to watch different kinds of films. In 2022, she curated a programme called Night School at Dubai’s Jameel Art Centre and, for the past three years, has also curated the CineMAS Film Festival at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi. “It’s a micro festival of experimental films, documentaries, shorts and classics,” she says of the latter.
One highlight was creating a film programme titled Bayn Al Khaleej at Nyuad Art Gallery in 2022, which showed films from the Gulf region. Whatever Mezaina programmes, the audience is her biggest challenge, given the UAE’s population is multinational with a broad range of cinematic tastes. “Each time I curate, it’s like the first time,” she says.
Contact: Hind Mezaina
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