UAE’s first female film producer and Canon Middle East brand ambassador, Nayla Al Khaja, has launched a new film club ‘Aflam’ founded by her company D-Seven Motion Pictures, that will serve as a platform to significantly boost Arab filmmakers.

Aflam is a monthly film club that celebrates the best of independent Arabic films and filmmakers, by showcasing award-winning films to the Abu Dhabi community, said a statement.
 
The film club was launched on January with a red carpet event at VOX Cinemas in Abu Dhabi’s Marina Mall. The highlight of the event was the screening of the critically acclaimed Egyptian film 'Tahrir 2011', a documentary about the Egyptian revolution.

The successful start to Aflam screenings was marked by the full house of 400 plus people who attended the film and engaged in a dialogue with producer, Mohamed Hefzy, and the fact that the film was bought for GCC distribution that evening, by Kuwaiti distributor, Hisham Alghanim.

The club’s second screening is scheduled to take place on February, starting with an hour of networking at 7pm. The screenings will start at 8pm, opening with a short film, Soul, made by Emirati director Fatima Abdalla Ali, through twofour54’s Create Lab in Abu Dhabi.

As the Canon 5D is very popular among new and up-coming filmmakers, many of the short films to be screened at Aflam will have been made using this camera, the statement said.

Screening of the short film will be followed with a feature film, a love story titled, ‘Habibi Ra’sak Kharban’, for which the writer and director, Susan Youssef, will be flown in from Amsterdam to attend.

As at every Aflam screening, the evening will end with a question and answer session between the audience and filmmaker, with Nayla Al Khaja moderating the discussion, it said.

Audience can also sign a poster, which is gifted to the filmmaker, as a token of our appreciation of their work.

Aflam is a film club open to everyone. Its films have an international appeal with many having been previously screened at major film festivals across the globe, it said.

“The launch of Aflam follows the overwhelming success of the film club we launched in Dubai a few years ago. We believe that Abu Dhabi certainly deserves a film club of this nature to celebrate the best of Arab independent cinema with a multi-cultural audience, while also providing a platform for film enthusiasts in the region to network and discuss the nuances of independent filmmaking,” Al Khaja said.

“This initiative also compliments the objectives of our partners like Canon Middle East, who helps bring the best of film making technology and equipment to this region, thereby supporting growth of the industry,” he added.

Mai Youssef, corporate communications manager, Canon Middle East, said: “We congratulate Nayla and D-Seven Motion Pictures on the launch of Aflam. It is indeed imperative that Abu Dhabi has such a platform that celebrates the depth and creative wealth of Arabic culture and art, particularly cinema.”

“Canon especially appreciates initiatives such as Aflam given our similar efforts in supporting independent filmmakers who are keen on stretching the boundaries of filmmaking through our budget-friendly, full-featured DSLR cameras,” Youssef said.
 
Canon is supporting the “Bloom! Cine Startups” initiative, which is being organised by D-Seven Motion Pictures to encourage budding filmmakers, especially youth, to make their first film using Canon DSLR cameras. – TradeArabia News Service