An appreciation of culture has always been a resounding element of Sheikh Khalifa Al-Thani’s outlook. “I loved watching movies growing up,” he tells Esquire. “Visiting museums, heritage sites, learning about history, and, of course, going to the cinema.”
We meet at M7, Qatar’s new creative hub; a fitting location to photograph one of the country’s most promising young filmmakers. Arriving ahead of time, he greets the Esquire team with a voice that is quiet and measured and listens intently as leading photographer Greg Adamski discusses each shot. For a man used to being behind the lens, this is a new experience but one that his appreciation of cinematography has more than prepared him for.
“I have always enjoyed writing, especially stories”, he says. It’s a passion that one senses permeates his being. He is a lover of words – articulate and direct. As if scripting a new feature film or an experimental short, he answers thoughtfully, each word laden with significance, fluent in the nuances of cultural lexicon, and, as if conscious of the preciousness of language, unwilling to waste a single word. He is most alive when discussing culture and his beloved Qatar – carving out an ambitious trajectory that will see him capture facets of his heritage and bring them to international audiences through the medium of film.
When it came to studying abroad, however, Al-Thani initially settled upon marketing and management. “I felt like it would give me a good overall understanding of how to carry a business, how to work.” Things changed with the coming of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival [DTFF]. “I was studying in D.C. at the time,” he recalls, “and I saw that DTFF was happening in Doha. I’ve always been passionate about film and it made me feel that there was now an opportunity to do something with that passion. I decided in my second year to transfer into art school and I chose New York because I love it. It’s a metropolitan city, full of different backgrounds, different ethnicities; a real melting point.” He enrolled in the School of Visual Arts, where he would go on to attain a BFA in Film and Video, becoming the first Qatari ever to embark on that course in that school.
What kinds of challenges came with such a pioneering move? “The other students had a lot of questions for me,” he says. “Stereotypical questions that people often ask someone from the Middle East – ‘where is Qatar?’ – that kind of thing, but it provided me with an opportunity to introduce them to my culture, something that was previously unknown to them.”
Was there a stereotypical perception attached to what an Arab man ought to making films about? “No, the tutors just wanted us to write what we most felt passionately about. For me, that was sharing with my peers elements – heritage, history – of life back home. Not the westernised media perception of the region, an idea of our culture seen through a western gaze, like Lawrence of Arabia or something. That was what they were used to seeing because films like that have such big backing, they are supported immensely by the bigger institutions. That’s why I’m so grateful for something like DTFF and the Doha Film Institute, a platform that gives support to voices in the Middle East and North Africa so that we can tell our stories the way we want to tell them, from our point of view.”
The School of Visual Arts provided invaluable experience and knowledge that would facilitate Al-Thani’s future in film. He was focused on learning the foundations – “I knew how to write stories but I didn’t know how to operate a camera, or how to use sound, or a lot of things I really wanted and needed to learn” – and whilst he finds the work of a number of international filmmakers inspiring, he has always been determined to carve his own narrative. “I don’t see anyone like me, who looks like me, who has my voice. I’m trying to take the experience I garnered in the States and use it to produce content here in Qatar.”
Upon returning to his homeland, after completing his degree, he immediately put that knowledge to good use, taking up a positon at Doha Film Institute. “I met peers who had similar goals, they wanted to share stories from our culture and transport them to other places. It’s a way of globalising our country as well.”
Since then, he has continued to immerse himself in different facets of the industry and directed, written, and produced several films, most notably A Tale of a Song “Shoomi La” with Al Jazeera Documentary, exploring the meaning, inspiration and importance behind the iconic poem and song, which gained popularity after the Qatar national team won the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
Elsewhere, he has collaborated with leading comedian Hamad Al Marri on mockumentary series The Fabricator. He has also completed a feature film script, which he hopes to shoot in the future and often attends international film festivals as a delegate from Qatar. “I like to check out the scene, see what is working, and what is missing.”
His latest project, Border, supported by Doha Film Institute and in partnership with The Edge Picture Company, is set in a dystopian future, presenting a kind of heightened reality. “It’s based on a true story and focuses on a Middle Eastern man who wants to go back home but things take a strange turn at the airport. It asks us to consider what the future may look like if everything happening right now is exaggerated.” The film will premiere at the Ajyal Film Festival later this year.
Given that the global pandemic has raised questions around education, social disparity, and sustainability, whilst movements like Black Lives Matter have galvanized a global conversation around systemic racism, many artists are using this opportunity to create art that is a vessel for social critique, and producing works that highlight, and seek to overcome, failings in the system. Artists are increasingly making their voices heard, delivering works that question, inform, increase awareness and solidarity.
Does he believe that art has a role to play? “Yes, definitely. I have experimented with different genres just to understand what my niche is. When I feel personally attached to a story or topic, I want to put my whole heart into it. Border deals with racism, xenophobia, and pre-determined judgements. It’s very important to me.”
Filmmaking is not Al-Thani’s only creative vehicle, having broadened his scope to include contemporary art. Later this year, he will curate an exhibition with Doha Film Institute with a focus on Palestine, following on from his curatorial debut last year as part of the hugely successful Outbreak exhibition at Sikkat Wadi Msheireb. Featuring thought-provoking artworks from over twenty local talents, the multimedia-art exhibition celebrated innovation in a time of global adversity and explored how the pandemic is shifting our outlook.
He previously participated in the [RE]ACTION exhibition during Ajyal Film Festival in 2018. “I added two social experiment videos. I took adults and children, both male and female, and gave them a series of questions to ask each other. The questions were about their different experiences in life, hobbies, and advice they’d want to give each other. In the centre, I added the ‘Emblem of Qatar’ — which embodies our strength, power and resilience during the most pressing times.”
He also contributed to the Qatar 2030 exhibition, held at AlMarkhiya Gallery last year, with a multimedia art installation titled Triumph. “It’s a juxtaposition of Qatar’s past and present in which we see the social, human, economic and environmental achievements over a span of 50 years. Qatar back in the 1970s and Qatar now.” Using techniques learned as part of his tenure in New York, he combined visuals of a more historic Qatar with the pillars of Qatar’s 2030 vision. “That’s what I took from my studies, different ways to communicate and execute ideas.”
His multidisciplinary approach stems from a refusal to pigeonhole himself into just one box. “I remember going to galleries and museums and feeling like there were no borders in art. It’s fluid. A teacher at school in Doha once told me that there are no rules in art and no reason why I should limit myself to just one discipline. I believe that Qatar is going to be one of the leading art destinations in the world. There is so much potential here, so much talent. My message to other artists in Qatar is to experiment with different media – film, music, performance, visual art, whatever it may be – and to put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other artists for collaboration or support, and take the opportunities that are offered to you. It’s like that scene in The Pursuit of Happyness, ‘Don’t ever let somebody tell you that you can’t do something. You got a dream. You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.’”
Photography by Greg Adamski
Styling by Nour Bou Ezz
