Miss World 2023 to be held in India, not UAE

DUBAI: If Dubai had a face, it would probably be painted by Mohammed Saeed Harib. The man, artist and filmmaker behind the new Lord of the Rings film The Emirati animator, artist and filmmaker – now playing in cinemas across the Middle East – has become an icon in his home country and has largely decides how the city presents itself to people, characters from his animated series “Freej” welcome visitors at FlyDubai, and his robot designs guided visitors around Expo 2020, and now the newly designed characters Modesh and Dana are The mascot of Dubai.

So it’s no wonder Harib pays more attention to the message behind the stuff he’s making these days. He hasn’t lost the fun, of course, but while he may have started 20 years ago with the goal of entertaining and lovingly poking fun at his own culture, he’s increasingly aware that he’s a cultural ambassador, and as the region The artistic voice of the artist is getting louder and louder, what is said is as important as how it is said.

“I found it very important to use my skills to make sure there were good products for children to grow up in,” Harib told Arab News. “My animated series ‘Siraj’ may not have gotten as much media attention, but it’s been (out) for years and it’s still being shown in schools. It’s funny because honestly, I’d rather be famous for that kind of work .”

At first glance, “The Lord of the Rings” (Malik Al-Halaba in Arabic) might seem strange to an artist with such intentions. This is the story of a Saudi who aspires to be a professional wrestler, out of Harib’s usual wheelhouse. But beneath the surface, there’s more.

“When people approach me, they warn me it’s not a slapstick movie – it’s a heartfelt story. I say, ‘Perfect, that’s exactly what I want to do. I want action with soul.’ Comedy,” Harib said.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially with the handing over of Harib. The film was shot in Abu Dhabi in mid-2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when “unprecedented times” led to a production that no one could have predicted.

“Abu Dhabi is by far the most restrictive city during the pandemic, so we had to adjust accordingly. Check into a hotel and have them repeat to me, ‘So you’re going to be here for 90 days? “It was kind of surreal. Just when we realized it, Saudi Arabia stopped all flights and we lost the main character,” Harib said.

He has nothing to compare it to. His last live-action film, Rashid y Rajab in 2019, took six years to shoot on intimate locations near his home, with a cast and crew he has known for years, and he was the producer closest friend. The Lord of the Rings is a major film with an international cast – the first large-scale co-production between Saudi Arabia’s MBC, Abu Dhabi’s Image Nation and Vox Cinemas. Despite all of it weighing on him, one burning question jumped into his mind: “How the hell do I capture pro wrestling?”

“I was a huge fan when I was a kid, but I didn’t really pay attention to it over the years and never saw it as a filmmaker. But I became obsessed. We ended up having to set up a wrestling ring in a conference room in a hotel , just to practice the routines over and over again, because I was so insistent on understanding the meaning of each movement,” says Harib.

“In the film, the wrestling started out very amateurish, both in the choreography and in the way it was shot. Then as the film went on, my best director came along, and it was like the wrestling became really good too. We all learned as we went — we grew up with the character,” Harib continued.

The director goes further than ever, guided by a harrowing experience and his desire to be a better filmmaker than he was before he started — and he achieves a goal. That’s probably why he has such a strong connection to the soul of the film, the chronicle of a man’s struggle with the limitations society imposed on him.

“This story reveals struggling personalities – people struggling to find their voice when society dictates that you can’t break the rules. Judging characters around you tell you how you should act, how you should look, how you should betray yourself Or into something. We made this film a family photo because we wanted parents and kids to see the journey and gain something from watching this man fight to be different and to succeed,” Harib explain.

Coincidentally, this isn’t the first Bay Area film to involve pro wrestling this year. Telfaz11’s “Satar” set a record-breaking hit record in the kingdom, but it is fundamentally different from “Lord of the Rings”. The exaggerated comedic sensibilities of the former are more in line with its YouTube comedic origins, while Harib’s film is aimed at a very different audience.

“Last week, a stakeholder from Telfaz11 came to our premiere in Saudi Arabia, and he came to me afterward and told me he was glad he was there,” Harib said. “This is a movie that kids should see, with a clear message. “I can’t recommend our movie ‘Sattar,'” the man said, “if they’re not age-specific. “It’s great that both films exist!'”

“Sattar” has single-handedly redrawn the cinematic landscape of the region, providing a roadmap for the untapped commercial vistas of Saudi-related films in Saudi Arabia. In the UAE, on the other hand, “Sattar” did not do nearly as well, suggesting that there is still work to be done in making films that appeal equally to Emiratis and Saudis.

“I want us to enjoy each other’s movies, but people need to know that while we’re part of the same family, we have differences,” Harib said. “There are many unique cultural differences. For example, the UAE population does not have the YouTube culture that has shaped Saudi appetites over the past decade. This material is difficult to sell to audiences who are not familiar with it, and vice versa. There is a lot of work to be done to overcome these differences.” Do.”

Of course, these differences are constantly changing. Harib, who is working on a new season of “Freej,” continues to marvel at how different the country is from when he started the show in 2006. The characters he created barely existed in real life as the people of the UAE began to change their cultural traditions with the times.

“I’m working on a movie about this right now – an animation – it’s my passion project. I’ve spent a long time working for companies or government organizations, but this one is for me. Still, it will take Some time,” Harib said. “Maybe five years from now we can sit down and do an interview on this and figure out again how much the Bay has changed.”