Emirati filmmaker Aisha Abdullah's documentary short '69' aims to highlight a lack of job opportunities and training faced by fresh graduates. The project, has been selected as part of the 'Lights' segment at the Gulf Film Festival. Aisha Abdullah, who was named Promising Director by the New York Film Academy at the Gulf Film Festival 2012, is a recent graduate herself, and faced the same difficulties in entering the workforce. Her documentary '69' is supported by Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation.
“Some companies say they only hire people with more experience, while others do provide training but with no feedback at the end,” says Abdullah. “I made this film because it was an experience I also faced. I know there are vacancies in both the private and public sector - why is there limited support for fresh graduates who are ready to work and to take training?”
69, follows the story of five Emirati graduates as they share their experience. Some, she says, are now demotivated, and others have decided to continue with post graduate education or enroll in various workshops instead, to try and make their applications stronger.
Aisha Abdullah (centre) on set of her documentary short ‘69’
“I, for example, graduated in Mass Communication and my passion is to work in media, but I could not find anything - I tried everything including customer service, being a receptionist, freelance - anything but no luck,” she says.
When asked about job fairs targeted at Emirati jobseekers, she was not optimistic.
“We’ve tried the job fairs but they are just like shopping malls - most companies just try to hand us their flash drives,” says Abdullah. “Some companies at the fairs ask us to register online - we do - and then what?”
The title ’69’ takes the Arabic word for unemployed ‘Al Batala’ and adds up each letter as it appears in the alphabet, says Abdullah.
