Roads of Arabia - Film Screenings at Louvre Abu Dhabi
My third curated film screenings for Louvre Abu Dhabi starts on Saturday, January 19 and will run over 3 weekends, ending on Saturday, February 2.
These film screenings are inspired by the current exhibition at the museum, Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia, which started on November 8 and on until February 6.
The selected films will be about the Arabian Peninsula, past and present, transporting viewers to the deserts of Saudi Arabia, the underwater wildlife of the Red Sea, a female camel owner entering the male dominated world of camel beauty pageants in the United Arab Emirates, and further afield to Wadi Rum desert of Jordan for a story about brotherhood, revenge and brotherhood.
The following is the line up and schedule. All screenings are free to attend, but you must register on the museum’s website for each screening.
Saturday, January 19 - 5.00pm
Desert Seas
Director: Mark Wheeler, Simon Nash, Dominic Weston | 2011 | Documentary | PG-13 | 46 min | English
David Attenborough unveils two stunning underwater realms. The flamboyant wildlife of the Red Sea is a stark contrast to the hot muddy Gulf on the other side of Arabia. The Gulf appears at first the ugly sister of the two seas, more famous for sand, oil and war. Look a little deeper though, and nesting green turtles and dancing terns are revealed, with huge whale sharks and gangly cormorants.
Both seas have wonderful characters, but the Gulf has hidden riches, and according to the latest science, may even come to the rescue of the spectacular but fragile Red Sea reef.
Saturday, January 26 - 5.00pm
Nearby Sky
Director: Nujoom Alghanem | 2014 | Documentary | PG-13 | 85 min | Arabic with English subtitles
Fatima Ali Alhameli is the first Emirati female camel owner to enter her camel in the country’s camel beauty pageant competition and participate in Abu Dhabi’s camel auctions. Her attempts faced stiff opposition from the organisers and society.
She persisted, however, as she was determined to represent Emirati women in this largely male bastion and keen on proving to the world that her gender would not hold her back. An inspiring film about a woman’s courage and pioneering spirit.
Saturday, February 2 - 5.00pm
Theeb
Director: Naji Abu Nowar | 2014| Adventure, Drama, Thriller | PG-15 | Arabic with English subtitles
A Bedouin tribe lives a peaceful existence in a forgotten corner of the Ottoman Empire. Theeb, the mischievous youngest son of the tribe’s Sheikh, is blissfully unaware that it’s 1916 and the World is at war.
Theeb’s older brother Hussein does his best to teach his little brother to become a man but the boy is more interested in mischief than mentorship. Their lives are interrupted with the arrival of a British Army Officer and his Guide on a mysterious mission.
Intrigued by their foreign guests Theeb finds himself caught in an epic journey that will take him far away from home and bring him face to face with the Stranger, an outcast raider, hell bent on capturing the Englishman’s mysterious wooden box. If Theeb is to survive he must become the kind of man his father was.