The much-anticipated second feature from Ali F Mostafa opened the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in October to an enthusiastic reception from a full house.
Audiences laughed at a series of outrageous gags in From A to B, which tells the story of three Abu Dhabi-based expat Arab friends on a road trip to Beirut to honour the memory of their dead best friend – but the film has its share of tender moments, too. The film is produced by Image Nation, which is owned by Abu Dhabi Media, The National's parent company.
Mostafa looked nervous walking down the ADFF red carpet on opening night and was clearly moved and humbled by the warm reception his film received.
A bigger challenge came the following month when the movie screened away from Mostafa’s home crowd at the Cairo International Film Festival.
“When I experienced the reaction from the Egyptian audience it was overwhelming,” says Mostafa. “We did not know what to expect. We had an expectation of people liking the film here because it was done here, it was an Emirati production. In Egypt, I was very nervous and we should all be very proud of what we achieved over there and, hopefully, globally.”
Throughout the film, the dialogue flips from English to Arabic and back. Why did you choose not to use one language or the other?
The film is meant to represent the UAE youth culture of today and show the UAE to be the diverse, multilingual country that it is. Many young Arabs, including myself, speak both Arabic and English, and I felt that this would resonate with the audience more. Besides, they all grew up going to an American school in Abu Dhabi.
How much of the film was shot on location and how much was studio work?
Most, if not all, of the scenes were filmed on location. The scenes in Petra, Wadi Rum and Abu Dhabi were all filmed on location. We couldn't film in Syria, for obvious reasons, so we filmed many of those scenes in Amman instead, the same places used in The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. It was exciting to travel to all these different backdrops and I think it looks incredible on-screen. It really shows you what an amazing landscape we have in our own back yard.
It’s interesting that such a high-profile Emirati movie features no Emirati characters. Was that a conscious decision?
In City of Life, I focused on Emirati youth and culture so I wanted there to be a different focus in From A to B. The UAE is such a diverse, multicultural place and I wanted From A to B to represent that and how there are a lot of people who are born here, yet aren't nationals.
• From A to B is on general release from today
cnewbould@thenational.ae
