City of Life by Ali F. Mostafa...10 Years Later

Ten years ago, City of Life by Ali F. Mostafa had its premier at the now defunct Dubai International Film Festival.

The publicity surrounding the film at the time it was quite hyped, and the film was presented as a new phase for film production in the UAE.

I wrote about the film after watching it during its theatrical release in 2010. It was by no means a masterpiece, but it showcased a higher production value and slightly racy and bolder story telling than we are used to seeing by films made here.

I revisited the film a few weeks ago, to prepare for a discussion on Tea with Culture podcast about the 10th anniversary of the film and to also talk about the state of filmmaking during the past 10 years.

I invited Faisal Salah, social media journalist at The National and comic book artist Mohamed "Momo" Sheibani to join me because we’ve had several discussions about the film and the UAE film industry in the past and I wanted to have a version recorded for listeners.

We could’ve talked for hours, but our time was limited on the day we recorded, so I hope to get a chance to continue the conversation on the podcast soon. There are so many more films to discuss.

You can listen to it by clicking on the play button below.

If you’ve never watched City of Life before, it’s available to rent or buy on iTunes.
https://itunes.apple.com/ae/movie/city-of-life/id1093942053 the film

About the episode:

The discussion includes their thoughts about the film, the representation of Dubai in the film, the films and commercials made by Ali F Mostafa after City of Life and a look at other UAE films released during the past decade, the impact of the cancellation of Abu Dhabi Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival, and the challenges of developing and maintaining a film industry in the UAE.

Other UAE films discussed in this episode:
From A to B (Ali F Mostafa, 2014)
The Worthy (Ali F Mostafa, 2016)
Sea Shadow (Nawaf Janahi, 2011)
A Fallible Girl (Conrad Clark, 2013)
Djinn (Tobe Hooper, 2013)
Zinzana (Majid Al Ansari, 2015)
Hajwala: The Missing Engine (Ali Bin Matar, Ibrahim Bin Mohamed, 2016)
Aerials (S.A. Zaidi, 2016)
Only Men Go to the Grave (Abdulla Al Kaabi, 2016)
Musk (Humaid Al-Suwaidi, 2018)