Qatar Reflection

Qatar is one of the wealthiest countries in the world with the highest GPD per capita (source). Vast economic growth has led Qatar to be one of the fast booming countries that has quickly jumped to modernity. Nonetheless, while Qatar is striving to establish itself as a modern state, the perseveration of culture and national identity has never been missing from its future plans. In fact, through the introduction of Qatar National Vision 2030 in 2008, Qatar has clearly emphasized its unique ambition to incorporate both modernity and traditional culture in all state’s future strategies. The vision has also highlighted Qatar’s role as an active player in mediating between cultures outside of Qatar through the “Sponsorship and support of dialogue among civilizations, promoting coexistence between different religions and cultures” (Qatar 12).

In 2010, Qatar was selected to be the Arab Capital of Culture, an initiative launched in 1995 by the Arab League under the UNESCO. The initiative aims at promoting and recognising Arab culture and encouraging fruitful collaborations between Arab countries. To celebrate this honour and to meet its goal of being a global cultural hub, Qatar arranged over 70 cultural events including performances, exhibitions and film screenings. As part of these efforts, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage sponsored the production of the first Qatari feature film Clockwise. The film is an attempt to preserve Qatari culture, as the country is “rapidly opening up to other cultures and slowly shifting away from its tribal structure” which caused younger generations to be less aware of their “historical identity” (Al-Attiyah 2). Additionally, it aims at shedding light on the culturally-rich ...

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...le genie, Saad saves his father by lifting Adsaan’s spell, bringing peace back to both the village and his father’s life.

1.1.3. FILM RECEPTION

With big budget, ambitious director and eager audience, the film was expected to be a huge success, one journalistic report stated, “The film director said that the film, would be screened in late April in Qatar, Gulf and Arab countries, as well as at international festivals in the US, France and Spain” (Hussein). However, the stakes were high; one year later the Qatari Director Al-Muraikhi started criticizing the Ministry for the lack of support in Al-Arab Newspaper and claimed “film publicity was almost dead” and “the ministry should have invested in marketing the film instead of locking it in its stores.” When asked about whether the failure of the film could be a reason for the ministry’s passivity, he replied,