At just 22 years old, Emirati filmmaker Ali Huad has already built a career he once dreamed of while sitting in a dark theatre at the Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Young People. “I’ve been in attendance since I was 16,” he says. “I watched the filmmakers and screenings and Q&As and told myself, ‘I’ll be me one day.’ ”
This year, Fuad has a complete circle with two documentaries in the official choice. “Oh Yamal” is a “guardian,” a meditation of the past of pearl diving in the United Arab Emirates and a quest for tribal traditions that have been preserved for over thousands of years.
“The Guardian of the Mountains”
Courtesy of Ali Fuad
Sharjah Pipeline
For FUAD, SIFF was more than a platform, it was a pipeline. He served as a junior ju judge in 2021. “They treated us as professional ju-seekers,” he recalls fondly. “They taught me not only to say whether the film is good or bad, but to ask why. It created a lot of confidence in interacting with filmmakers in just 18.”
Two years later, Huad premiered in front of the festival audience, “Office War,” which he created as part of his coursework at Middlesex University in Dubai. “When you see your film on the big screen, it’s really a dream come true when dozens of people laugh and ask questions,” he says. “You start to realize that it’s not just about making a film, but about connecting with the audience.
Uncovering untold stories
Fuad’s SIFF 2025 entry continues his mission to highlight the overlooking of local Emirati stories. “Ah Yamal” revisits the history of pearl divers who supported the UAE economy before oil wealth became synonymous, especially in the Emirates, and more generally. “We grew up hearing these stories, but there were no films about them,” he explains. “I wanted people today to remember the resilience of their ancestors, the dangers of the ocean, the months and sacrifices from their families.”
He surrounds the dangers of the long moon at the sea, and the divers leave the house, not knowing whether they will return or not, through the music that carried them. “I didn’t want to focus solely on the struggle,” he points out. “The song carried their spirits. They made divers resilient and kept them moving.”
He likes hymns to centuries-resonating voices, ancestor archives. “You don’t even need to understand the words,” emphasises Fuad. “Emotions teach you everything.”
In “The Guardian of the Mountains,” Huad turns his lens into the Shivs who live in mountains along the borders of the United Arab Emirates. Their dialects have not changed in virtually for two thousand years, but even his followers proved challenging. “When I first visited, I was like, ‘Am I still in the United Arab Emirates?’ Their traditions are completely different,” he says.
The first nerves steadily gave way to deep trust. Locals welcomed him warmly and frawn his films as part of their own efforts to maintain and pass on their culture. For Fuad, that generosity transformed the project from an act of writing to one of cultural controls, where he was tasked with moving forward with Shihuh’s voice.
From “magic glasses” to middle sex
Fuad’s filmmaking journey began in just 15 with “magic glasses,” produced through the UAE Ministry of Education’s masterpiece program. He admits that a brief fantasy about glasses that reveal the true intentions of people was made “mainly for fun,” but it sparked a lifelong passion. “That love for filmmaking began to grow. Then I wanted to tell stories from my culture and from this environment.”
He later trained at the Warsaw Film School, where he studied under veterans in the industry who worked on major productions in Europe and Hollywood. “It was only a year, but it felt like three or four years of experience,” he recalls. “Every month I was on set, and I’m surrounded by that environment, so that’s what I really made me who I am today.”
Back in the UAE, Fuad has been learning to oversee the commercials and take part in Image Nation’s Arab Film Studio program, where he learns to handle the pressures of a professional set. “Commercials are fast, flashy and expensive. What taught me was how to manage the crew and deal with responsibility,” he said. “When I moved to the documentary, it felt easy. There were fewer people, fewer equipment, longer times. It made it more artistic.”
Looking ahead
Fuad considers his generation of Emirati filmmakers important to protect their cultural identity in a more globalized world than ever before. “The younger generations are drifting from Arabic and from local traditions,” he warns. “That’s why it’s more important than ever to make Emirati films and archive these stories so they don’t get lost.”
His ultimate ambition is a feature-length documentary documenting the history of the United Arab Emirates, from ancient traditions to the present day. “People who enter the theatre want a movie that knows everything: pearl diving, Bedouin, agriculture, desert, oceans,” he emphasizes.
Beyond that, he aims for fiction and wants to push himself into a story that may not look like the job he is doing now. This is a deliberate step into an unfamiliar territory fueled by his desire to explore the scope of his storytelling.
Fuad sees Siff as a LaunchPad rather than just a showcase. With the festival betting on the film market and even more networking platforms, he sees it as a venue where collaborators can meet and build sustainable momentum towards bigger projects. Being in that environment makes the idea of him speaking out and directing functions feel like a dream, not a dream.
But for now, he has experienced the moment. Once imagining himself on the festival stage, Fuad is currently a two-time attendee and shares a deep, personal story with the audience who first inspired him. “I didn’t think I would choose between two films,” he admits. “That’s the motivation for me to continue. Festivals like Sharjah make you forget about the tough days of the set. They remind you why you do this.”
