Going to Heaven

Going To Heaven (Arabic: ساير الجنة; Sayer Al-Janna) is a 2015 Emirati film directed by Saeed Salmeen Al-Murry, Produced by Amer Salmeen and starring Jumaa Ibrahim Al Zaabi, Ahmed Ibrahim Al Zaabi, Fatima Al Taei, Mariam Sultan and Abdullah Masood. Its plot is set in the United Arab Emirates. The story is about a young 11 years old boy called Sultan who travels from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah with his best friend, Saud,^[1] to reunite with his maternal, far gone grandmother, who is estranged from the family.

Plot

Going To Heaven is a family film that took place in the United Arab Emirates, starting from Abu Dhabi. In Abu Dhabi, Sultan (Jumaa Al Zaabi) who has lost his mother at a very young age and feels lost in this world. his father remarries and moves the family to Abu Dhabi where he is forced to live with his callous stepmother and younger sister, Fatima. Sultan craves innocent love but all his stepmother is offering him unkind constraints and careless actions, He finds his calmness and serenity through his three pet goldfish who his stepmother is set out to get rid of. However, Sultan yearns for something much important and much bigger than this. Sultan yearns for the warmth, love, and care of his maternal grandmother who has estranged from the family years ago. When Sultan's young sister, Fatima, shared the news that their father is hiding a photograph and a tape record of their grandmother, Sultan makes his final decision to search for his grandmother once and for all. From Abu Dhabi to Fujairah, the young Sultan sets off on an adventurous journey as he seeks out his grandmother. However, he is accompanied by one of his closest and older friend, Saud (Ahmed Al Zaabi). Saud loves motorcycles and football stars and plays a big role as the 'big boss' and 'the planner', investigator and helper in all problems of his friend. Confiding in his friend Saud, they plot their adventurous journey to a remote part of Fujairah where they believe that Sultan's grandmother lives in. With hundreds of kilometers between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah. This trip unravels surprises and exuberant emotions. This journey is no easy journey for two young boys, yet they hatch a plan to run away from their school trip to Dubai and head off straight to Fujairah. Also, through this journey across the Emirates, Sultan find the missing pieces to his puzzle, encountering fundamental life lessons along his way on this journey. One of the important lessons taught throughout this movie is the importance of family in the Emirati culture, the film also highlights the challenges that we humans face in the community by representing the lack of traditional communications between family members and the technology control that controls our lives.^[2] This issue is not the only issue that affects the United Arab Emirates community, but the world in general.^[3]

Cast

All cast that acted in this film were Emirati citizens as Murry takes pride and passion for creating films that represent Arab identity and culture which he believes is very important.^[4]

• Jumaa Al Zaabi as Sultan
• Ahmed Al Zaabi as Saud
• Fatima Altaei
• Mariam Sultan
• Abdullah Masoud
• Abdullah Al Junaibi

Production

This film was taken in November 2015 in the United Arab Emirates and the film is 90 minutes long. This film was produced with the support of Arab Cinema campaign, who aims to increase the awareness about Arab films as well as encourage both local and expat audience to watch these Arab produced films. This film also had help from Cine Vision Art Production that form, develop and produce quality films associated with Image Nation Abu Dhabi.^[5] Majid Al Futtain Cinemas - VOX Cinemas were also pleased to promote Emirati films, as they believe that both local and expat families across the nation will appreciate the sentimental story. The filming had a budget of US $300,000. The crew included:

• Director : Saeed Salmeen Al-Murry
• Producer : Amer Salmeen Al-Murry
• Scriptwriter : Saeed Salmeen Al-Murry
• Editor : Haider Rashid
• Cast : Jumaa Al Zaabi, Ahmed Al Zaabi, Fatima Altaei, Mariam Sultan, Abdullah Masoud, Abdullah Al Junaibi
• Music: Khaldoon Ismail
• Cinematography: Newine Behi
• Assistant Director: Ammar Al Kooheji, Jawad Sophia
• Sound Department: Gabriele Fasano
• Camera & Electrical Department: Michel Bouquerel, Nicolas Cagniard, Charles Cornier
• Other: Ivan Khadir

Marketing

The film Going to Heaven was premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival and was picked to be the Muhr Emirati Award for best feature film. Other than that, marketing took place on different social media websites such as blogs, news channels such as Gulf News, Facebook, Twitter, Dubai International Film Festival's 'Going to Heaven' page, Image Nation Abu Dhabi's page on Going to Heaven, Magazines and many other social mediums you can think of. Also, because this is an Emirati Movie, it is easily shared and supported by the United Arab Emirates as they appreciate local work and support them in every step taken.

The Reason Behind This Film

In this region, where talent and vision have not been an issue, there remains a shortage of authentic Arab cinematic voices. However, the Arab cinema is starting to change and improve by creating films like "Going to Heaven", which does not only speak for the Arab experience but the human experience. The big inspiration behind this movie that Saeed Salmeen Al-Murry held so dear to his heart was the United Arab Emirates society and the Gulf, and because this movie was about Al-Murry's Emirati's culture, it made it a lot easier to write up the script. Murry focuses on the main message which the world is struggling with which is the "loss of traditional communication and human interaction in favor of new technology".^[6] "The film highlights a challenge we are facing in the community, which is a lack of human interaction between family members. The control of technology on our lives is becoming so apparent, from smartphones to social media, and so I felt like it was important to tell this story." says Saeed Salmeen Al-Murry in his interview with StepFeed.

This film featured a full cast of Emirati citizens, and filmed entirely in the United Arab Emirates, which Al-Murry finds is the main factor that connects to its authenticity. The shootings took place outdoors in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah - Aiming to showcase the diversity of the United Arab Emirate's landscape and to turn down stereotyped soaring skyscrapers that people believe UAE is all about.

Murry, who has been called "the ambassador of Emirati cinema," takes pride in his passion for creating films that are consistently representative of Arab identity and culture, which he believes is very important.

"Not only are Arab films of high-quality, but they are representative of the region, they tell stories from our culture without the negative stereotypes we often see in Western media," he said. "It is important for us to tell these stories so that the world gets a true idea of Arab life and Arab people feel accurately represented."^[7]

Murry believes that the audiences do not need to be convinced to watch commercial films from the biggest studios in the world, with well known stars/actors. 'Local films have a much harder job attracting them to the cinema' as they have to focus much more on factors such as creating a good story that the audience will find interesting, high quality production and professional cast. Murry's solution to this problem is to raise awareness about why the progress of Arab cinema matters in the first place, and why Arab cinema should be recognized and supported in every step taken in this society. As Murry quotes "Half the battle in building an Arab film industry is educating the public about Arabic films and how important it is to support these films."^[8]

Accolades

Dubai International Film Festival 2015 - the Muhr Emirati Award for best feature film^[9]

External links

• Template:Trailer
• Going to Heaven on IMDb
• Template:Step Feed: Going to Heaven: An Emirati film speaking a universal language
• Template:Dubai International Film Festival

References