The music of the United Arab Emirates stems from the Eastern Arabia music traditions. Distinctive dance songs from the area's fishermen are also well-known. Liwa is a type of music and dance performed mainly in communities which contain descendants of Bantu peoples from the African Great Lakes region, and hybrid Afro-Arab rhythms such as the Sha'abi al-Emirati and Bandari remain the standard in both traditional and popular music in this historically cosmopolitan country.
The cinema of Somalia refers to the film industry in Somalia. The earliest forms of public film display in the country were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period. In 1937 the film Sentinels of Bronze was produced in Ogaden Somalia, with nearly all Somali actors. Growing out of the Somali people's rich storytelling tradition, the first few feature-length Somali films and cinematic festivals emerged in the early 1960s, immediately after independence. Following the creation of the Somali Film Agency (SFA) regulatory body in 1975, the local film scene began to expand rapidly. In the 1970s and early 1980s, popular musicals known as riwaayado were the main driving force behind the Somali movie industry. Epic and period films as well as international co-productions followed suit, facilitated by the proliferation of video technology and national television networks. In the 1990s and 2000s, a new wave of more entertainment-oriented movies emerged. Referred to as Somaliwood, this upstart, youth-based cinematic movement has energized the Somali film industry and in the process introduced innovative storylines, marketing strategies and production techniques.
Arab cinema or Arabic cinema refers to the film industry of the Arab world. Most productions are from the Egyptian cinema. Currently, the Middle East's largest cinema chain is Vox, owned by UAE-based Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas.
Cinema of the United Arab Emirates began with a number of feature films that were broadcast on national television since the late 1980s.
Nujoom Alghanem is an Emirati poet, artist and film director. She has published eight poetry collections and has directed more than twenty films. Alghanem is active in her community and is considered a well established writer and filmmaker in the Arab world. Her achievements in the arts have been recognized both nationally and internationally. She is the cofounder of Nahar Productions, a film production company based in Dubai. Currently she works as a professional mentor in filmmaking and creative writing, as well as a cultural and media consultant.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival, formerly the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2015.
City of Life is a 2009 multilingual Emirati film written, directed, and produced by Ali F. Mostafa. Set in the United Arab Emirates, the film revolves around three parallel lives, amongst many cultures in one city, namely, Dubai.
Tropfest Arabia is an extension of Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival. Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people in a cafe in Sydney but has since become the largest platform for short films in the world.
Sea Shadow is a 2011 Emirati coming-of-age film written by Mohammed Hassan Ahmed and directed by Nawaf Al-Janahi. The film was the first from Image Nation to be filmed in the United Arab Emirates. The film premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in October 2011 and was released in theaters throughout the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in November 2011. It premiered in the United States at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2012.
Nayla Al Khaja is the first female screenwriter, director, and producer in the United Arab Emirates,
The Worthy is a 2016 Arabic thriller film directed by Ali F. Mostafa, and produced by Image Nation. The movie was released on 23 February 2017 in the Middle East.
Amal Al-Agroobi is an Emirati documentary filmmaker, director, producer and writer. Her career as a director began in 2012 when her first short documentary Half Emirati premiered at Dubai International Film Festival and was nominated for best film. She is also founder and owner of the production company ALAGROOBI Films. Al-Agroobi has raised money for many of her films through crowdfunding.
From A to B is a 2014 multilingual Emirati film written, directed, and produced by Ali F. Mostafa. Set in the United Arab Emirates, the film revolves around three old friends who travel on an adventurous road trip from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in memory of their lost friend Hadi.
Fadel Al Mheiri is an Emirati filmmaker. He graduated from the American University of Sharjah.
Layla Kaylif is a British-Emirati singer-songwriter, film director, screenwriter and actress. She won the IWC Filmmaker Award at the 2015 Dubai International Film Festival for her original screenplay "The Letter Writer".
Going to Heaven 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, to reunite with his maternal, far gone grandmother, who is estranged from the family.
Ahd Hassan Kamel is an actress and filmmaker from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She is known for her role in the BAFTA-nominated film, Wadjda (2014) and for her role as Fatima in BBC Two's Collateral (2018).
Ihab Darwish is an Emirati composer, Universal Music Artist, and Recording Academy voting member. Darwish has been playing music since the age of ten and grew up in a family that supported his passion for music and composing. He received his Bachelors in Advertising and Art Design from the Lebanese American University in Beirut.Years after graduation, Darwish designed and created his own home recording studio equipped with state of the art instruments and technology. He has experimented with music for years, working mainly in the genre of classical music.
Bader Alhomoud is a Saudi Arabian film director and screenwriter.
Majid Al Ansari, is an Emirati filmmaker. He is best known as the director of critically acclaimed film Zinzana: Rattle the Cage and Netflix's first Egyptian television series Paranormal.
