Khalifa Al Muraikhi, the film’s director (right).

DOHA: The filming of the first Qatari movie Aqaribabzah (Clockwise) will be finished in the second week of December and will start the post-production work by January 3. The film will be released in May 2010.

Hamad Ali, the film’s executive director, said they were taking their time to shoot the film as this is the first Qatari feature film. Ali said they will finish with the filming by the second week of December and will start editing in January. Ali, who has produced several films which were entered in several international film festivals, said the production team had to check every detail and do a lot of research for the setting, what the houses looked like then, and the clothes during the period, among others, as the story was set in the 1930s.

The team is shooting most of the scenes at a deserted village in Al Ruwais, which boasts of a history dating back to nearly 200 years. Khalifa Al Muraikhi, the film’s director, said the story was taken from a legend told by the residents of the Gulf a long time ago. The 110-minute film focuses on the life of a Qatari man tracing his roots and discovers numerous interesting facts about his life and family, which inspires him to try new artistic pursuits with renewed vigour.

The film team shooting a scenes.

Al Muraikhi said the film is a combination of fantasy and adventure as it includes the presence of a genie.

Ali said the film will be finished and shown in May next year as Doha takes its seat as the Regional Capital of Arab Culture in 2010.

“This project was conceptualised in time for next year as Doha will be the Regional Capital of Arab Culture. We initially planned to finish and show the film in March, but we moved the date to May instead,” he said.

According to him, the team will need a lot of time to work on the post-production as there will be a lot of visual effects and they need to focus on this. “Since this is the first lengthy Qatari film, we need to do it differently… It has to be unique.”

Ali said they have contacted the composer of the score for The Aviator movie, Howard Shore, to make the score for Clockwise. “We called him and we arranged that we will send him a copy of the film and he will make the musical score for the movie.”

Around 200 to 300 people are working on the film, which includes the cast, the staff for the production and post-production, and the film crew, among others, he said. Auditions were held to pick the cast of the film. Most of the actors picked used to act for theatre.

Ali said majority of the people working on the film are Qataris and 95 percent are residents here, the others are from the other countries in the Gulf region. Some parts of the film were shot in Bangkok, Thailand, which includes a storm scene. A dhow resembling those in Qatar was created inside the studio to make it appear more realistic than usual. The post-production work will also be done in Bangkok.

Maisa Magribi from Morocco, a well-known actress in the Arab world, plays one of the lead roles. Muraikhi said Magrib’s advantage is that she could speak and understand the local dialect in an accent that is very similar to how Qataris speak.

Some of the characters in the movie are Abdulla Hamid, Salame Al Gahaweh, Ibrahim Mohamed, Rashed Al Sheeb, Nafiz Said, Mohamed Hassan, Hassan Ali, Salah Darwish Khalid Abdul Kareem Rasheed Saad, Ali Mirza and Abdul Latif Abdulla. Mariam Fuad is the local female actress doing a role. The film will have English, French and Spanish subtitles. Ali said they did not really want to give a synopsis of the film because they want the people to watch the film and give their feedback “and tell us what they think the story is all about after watching it.”

THE PENINSULA