ACTING & FILM SCHOOL

Forget Hollywood, Think India

Abu Dhabi Film & Acting School

One of the biggest disappointments to come out of the economic crisis was the news that the opening of Dubailand’s Universal Studios was, at best, going to be far later to the denizens of the UAE get their fix of all things cinematic? And how would they fill their time when the only movies they could see required a cable television subscription, a trip to Virgin or a ticket stub?

If you listen to Simon Hunter, however, it’s all going to be just fine. Stalwart of New York’s Film Academy and seasoned industry professional, a little over a year ago, Hunter accepted a job in the UAE’s Capital as the president of the Abu Dhabi Film School. “We were approached by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Cultural Heritage (ADACH) to set up their film school for them,” Hunter tells iQ from his Murour Road Office. “It was one of their initiatives in partnership with Imagenation to create a film industry here in Abu Dhabi.” Keen to bring in the best possible people to work on this exciting project, the New York institution was also the only real stop on the Government’s list. “They came to us because we were certainly one of, if not the biggest film schools in the world. ADACH wanted to develop the next generation of Emirati filmmakers, so that they could have a self-sustaining film industry.”

A move from the Big Apple to one of the Middle East’s richest oil countries might have seemed daunting to many people, but to the well-travelled Hunter it was just another step on a cinematic road that started remarkably early. “I started making movies from the age of 10 in Australia, and I grew up in the States as well, moving between the two countries. Then I studied English Literature at university and moved on to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where I studied producing.” His home couldn’t contain his wanderlust for long however. “I graduated from there, and worked with Geoffrey Rush and Bryan Brown on a TV series called Twisted Tales. Then I packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where I worked as a writer and producer, primarily in creating television shows for NBC and Columbia Tristar.”

Hob-nobbing with the big shots occupied his attention for a while, but Hunter’s love for teaching would eventually lead him to Australia’s largest private film school, Bond University. A directorship there was followed by a transfer to the New York Film Academy, and the start of his road to Abu Dhabi.

Moving to the Gulf hasn’t meant abandoning his New York roots. As Hunter’s keen to point out, there are still links to the well-established institution back in the US. “In the educational sense they’re very closely linked. We fly a number of lecturers from New York and Los Angeles to come out and teach here.” But surely there aren’t many major players willing to make the trek away from their sprawling mansions and comfortable lifestyles?” We had Paul Schrader in to do a masterclass,” Hunter says, as if to prove his point. “He wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. We also had Mira Nair who made Salaam Bombay! and Monsoon Wedding. They were two of the lecturers we had last year.” So the big wigs are keen to help make Abu Dhabi a powerhouse in the region, it would seem. “It’s exotic in one respect, and it’s also a place that’s willing to invest in film. That’s why you’ll see these kinds of people coming through our doors, like David Hasselhoff. He was over here looking for finance for a couple of his projects. So this area is certainly extremely popular with these kinds of people.”

And it’ not just visitors that bring a bit of worldly gravitas to the proceedings either. The Abu Dhabi school’s President explains a little about the kind of teaching staff he’s brought over to give students the best possible opportunity to learn their craft. “We have international staff with some fantastic credits; people who’ve worked on features all over the world, high-end music videos, high-end television ads, and we have directors who’ve worked on television for NBC and the like.” Key to his plans is making use of the local talent as well. “I try to bring in some locals to do adjunct lecturing for us. My hope is that the students who graduated from here will have a network that they can connect into. They’ll have the best knowledge form around the world, but they’ll also have local contacts. That’s really what the vision of the academy was all about.”

Establishing this community of talented individuals is a fundamental part of what both ADACH and the Film School want to accomplish in the region. “The vision that we have is to teach students what we termed the “Chris Nolan method”. Chris Nolan made Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but 10 years ago he graduated from film school and made a Dhs22,000 feature film called Following. He put that into festivals, got noticed and that’s where he got the funding for Memento. Then each film helped him progress to the next level.” Emulating the likes of Mr Nolan in an industry far removed from Tinseltown might sound like an unrealistic goal, but Hunter maintains that it’s more than feasible: “The students learn skills here, they cut their teeth making short films so that when they finish they can make a longer feature. There’s so much support and excitement – it’s a great opportunity.” And one that will soon be yielding results, it would seem. “At the moment our advanced students haven’t graduated yet, so I think in the next few years we’ll see a difference. Some of the students that have graduated from out shorter programmes have moved on to companies such as Filmworks up in Dubai, and right now there’s a German production being shot. We have a number of interns on that production.” So the students coming through the institution have already begun to go out into a blossoming film industry, one that’s growing up around them. And if the Abu Dhabi school chums out these highly trained professionals, will they find an industry ready to make use of their talents? “Absolutely,” is the succinct reply. “I think we’re going to see more and more of this gradient of graduates moving into the film industry in this part of the world.

It sounds promising, both for the region and the film industry as a whole. What’s more, the two worlds could very well collide right here in the UAE, and it might not be that long before we see huge productions considering Abu Dhabi as a viable place to shoot movies. “Big budget films coming over here is, I think, the vision that the government has.” But the UAE isn’t merely happy to rent space to the Hollywood big boys. “They’d also like to able to tell Emirati stories that could be enjoyed by the world. [At the school] we have films shot in Arabic, English and I think one film in French as well. That’s what makes it exciting to be here; you have quite an eclectic mix of films being made.” Surely then, the potential pinnacle of this exciting development would be a big budget Arabic movie made right up here in the UAE? Speaking to hunter and being inescapably swept up in his tangible enthusiasm, he makes it seem like a wholly plausible next step. “If the government continues the support it has, then I think they’re at the top of the rung. The government are the ones that will definitely do it, because they’re so committed to this.”

While all this sounds exciting, much of it hinges on the students. Those already enrolled at the New York Film Academy’s campuses in NYC or LA can opt to study for a semester in Abu Dhabi before jetting back to the US. But if things are to progress as Hunter and his staff hope, the school needs a student base that’s not likely to leave the second they graduate. “Around 25 per cent of our students are local and we have some very high profile students that come to study with us, and then the remaining 75 per cent come from all over the world.” Sidestepping our desire to press for details on these “high profile” alumni (“I would have to get their permission to tell you”), it hardly sounds like the kind of demographic likely to end up in a mass exodus from the region: “We have the usual eclectic mix that you’d expect from Dubai and Abu Dhabi; it’s really a good mix of students.”

Nor are the students, local or otherwise, in for an easy time. “The students who enroll in our programme start shooting on day two. They basically attend classes from 9am until 5pm, five days a week. It’s intensive and they’ll be shooting two weekends out of four. At any one time in Abu Dhabi, when we’re in full swing, we could have 50 movies shooting on a weekend.”

With those kinds of numbers, it almost seems that the law of averages dictates Abu Dhabi will soon be a cinematic force to be reckoned with. If reports are to be believed, Universal Studios Dubai finally opens around the 2012 mark, perhaps the UAE will already have had its silver screen appetite sated by home-grown filmmakers of its own. But that’s not necessarily what Hunter and his team are aiming for: “I think the students need to be prepared to forget the Hollywood market, and instead remember that other film industries, such as India, are far bigger than Hollywood.” Dismissing the US movie moguls might seem a bold and brazen move, but the kind of students Abu Dhabi Film School hopes to boast as its alumni by then should mean they can afford to be a little more discerning in their creativity. “International audiences are maturing. They’re happy to enjoy the ‘popcorn movies’, but they’re also looking for something else, and I think those are the kinds of film we could see being made out here.