This part of the world is a melting pot of folks from foreign lands. Different cultures, accents, languages and outlooks on the world in which we live.
So cross French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, Indian actress Freida Pinto, Spain's Antonio Banderas, Ethiopian model Liya Kebede, French-born Algerian star Tahar Rahim, British actor Mark Strong, Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi and Titanic soundtrack composer and musical genius James Horner, and it comes as no surprise the result is whatever the equivalent of that melting pot is for film.
It's a French-speaking-with-Arabic-heritage actor whose biggest challenge was to master the art of the English language. An English bad guy terrified for his life riding a horse along a sheer rock face. It's an Indian A-lister happy to play just a few scenes because of her passion for a story desperate to be told and a director and crew fighting to finish a movie as the political revolution in Tunisia takes hold.
Conservatism vs modernism
In a nutshell, it's a mini miracle Black Gold was ever made. Sometimes it takes a bit of faith, trust and love — something the cast and crew of this movie had the privilege of enjoying in abundance.
"We became one family to create one vision," Annaud proudly announced. "Everyone was happy to be on board and for us we hope this begins a new era of how to show the Arab world in a different way."
Annaud, of Enemy of the Gates and Seven Years in Tibet fame, delivers a film set in Arabia during the 1930s at the centre of the oil boom. A young Arab prince, played by Rahim (of A Prophet) is torn between allegiance to his conservative father and modern, liberal father-in-law.
"The themes of the story can apply to any nation," said Annaud. "It's not only about this part of the world. You see how the world is today with greed, corruption and the world of finance. Those are themes which King Amar is repeating throughout the movie. So it's a movie which is universal. You don't have to be an Arab to understand."
The $55 million (Dh201.99 million) movie opened the third edition of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival with cast including Pinto, Strong, Rahim, Akin Gazi and Jan Uddin turning out to show their support.
For the most part in English, Black Gold was partly shot in Qatar, with the majority of scenes filmed in Tunisia, dangerously during the recent revolution.
"It was incredibly emotional," added Annaud. "We were dealing with freedom, something mirrored on-set with what was happening outside. It was extraordinary to mix the past, the present, reality. Freida and I stayed during the revolution. We sent many of the crew away, back to Europe. We stayed because we loved the country, we trusted our friends and we wanted to be part of this history, not only for the Arab world but for the entire globe. It was a very strong experience."
Telling stories
Co-produced by the DTFF organiser, Doha Film Institute, the movie was the brainchild of Tarek Bin Ammar.
"We have so many stories we are proud of," said Bin Ammar. "When you have international actors and international directors to come on board, as well as James Horner who does Avatar, Titanic and so many other movies, who understand the vision and take a Qatari singer to open the movie, it cannot fail."
Warner Brothers and Universal both agreed to distribute the film. "To educate the world about Arabs, about the Bedouin, about the desert, makes us proud."
Annaud explains how it all began. "[Tarek] and I have been friends for almost 35 years now and every now and then he calls and says, "Have you read this?" And they are always interesting books about his passion — the Arab world. It eventually became my passion. It has been now for many, many years. For 25 years I have been taking my family for vacations in the Arab world. I got that fascination because I felt it was a world that was not known enough and that charmed me a lot. What I discovered was something very different from everything I read about the place. I knew I wanted to make a film about the Arab world.
"I was in Oman and I called Tarek and he gave me a book called The Great Thirst. I remember calling him from the desert in Oman and saying I am with the characters, I am with Auda, I am with Princess Lallah, with King Amar and my heart was pumping. A few weeks later we decided to go ahead and work on this movie."
Black Gold is entertaining and educational all at the same time. The problem is, it's unclear where one ends and the other begins which makes a target audience difficult to pinpoint. To sum it up, it's a good heart-warming watch with a few moments of discomfort which explores a man's journey of growth rather than that of a nation.
But with an all-star cast, fantastic filming, impressive landscape and real heart, Black Gold is definitely something Qatar can be proud to be a part of.
Tahar Rahim
Tahar Rahim plays the lead character, Prince Auda. While a little weak, his performance is emotional enough to allow a connection with his audience. "We wanted someone Arab," said producer Tarek Bin Ammar. "Ramin gave us all we needed. He is a fine young Algerian actor who gave us this authenticity."
But the role was never going to be a walk in the park for French-speaking Ramin.
"Acting in another language is very hard, because you feel fake all the time. You don't have the music, it's not natural for you, so you never know if what you're doing is right or wrong and it's hard to handle."
Mark Strong
Mark Strong plays Auda's father Amar, having been "hunted down" by Bin Ammar.
"I saw Body of Lies and asked ‘Who's the Jordanian police guy with Leonardo Di Caprio? I want him,' before I was told no, no he's an English actor," says Bin Ammar.
"I had the good fortune to be in Cannes at the same time as Jean-Jacques and I read the script and I immediately started wondering how I can become this character," said Strong. "I look for things that are as far removed from me as possible. That's what I enjoy about acting. I love the concept of transformation and I assume that it comes from my days in the theatre.
"I spent 10 years as a theatre actor and that is all about creating illusion, because you can see the lights, the stage, but what you're doing is taking people on a journey. In the theatre, you can be cast as what you're not. So as a young man, a 19-year-old, I was cast as a 75-year-old. That I find interesting. And what I've been lucky to have in film is that has followed me. That's quite rare.
"In film you're usually cast as you look and as you sound and your age, but I seem to be lucky and I've found the thing I enjoy, which is transforming into something very different from what I am."
Akin Gazi
Akin Gazi plays Saleeh. The 30-year-old from London said he waited months to hear he had got the part.
"The audition seemed to go quite well, but I didn't hear anything for six months," he said. "Then I got a call to say J.J. wants to have a coffee with [me]. Mark Strong was there. So I did a side step and then he sat me down and said I'm going to be Saleeh in Black Gold and I went home a very happy boy.
"One of the jobs of an actor is to reveal the humanity of another human being. And when you're asked to play a terrorist, two-dimensional Islamic fundamentalist, intent on killing innocent people, it's really hard to find that humanity. So it's so refreshing to be part of a film like Black Gold and be able to show Arabs Muslims are good people too."
Freida Pinto
Freida Pinto plays Princess Lallah. "We have to keep in mind that it was set in a certain time period. It was the 1930s and the 1940s. I think Princess Lallah has the desire to be free, but as such tradition reigns her in. Her freedom is kerbed. She's brought up in a certain way but she's always trying to delicately break through that with respect, respecting her father, not really going all out and rebelling. She wishes she could see the world unveiled.
"For me it was very difficult, there were time when Jean-Jacques would ask me to calm it down, just because as a 21st century woman I would want to look at my father in the movie and say, ‘I will not divorce him, how dare you tell me what to do?' But Lallah has been raised differently so she's slowly, maturely trying to get there."
Jan Uddin
Jan Uddin would be recognised in London as "the boy from EastEnders". Born in Stoke-on-Trent to English and Bangladeshi parents, Uddin is quite the shy one.
"I don't think there are girls who think I'm hot," he said. "It was all hype in television. People forget very quickly when you leave — luckily — and I wasn't in it for long. No, that's not the case," he protested strongly after being informed he was named top of a poll in a magazine.
