Independent Kuwaiti filmmaker Meqdad Al-Kout turns 25 in December; in the very same month, his short film Paradoxes (Mufaraqat) plays to curious cinephiles at the Dubai International Film Festival 2008. It is a double celebration for this self-described absurdist whose debut film has been described by Faizan Rashid in his review as “unorthodox and postmodern.” Meqdad is in Dubai, so we caught up with this fresh new voice of the Gulf for a candid interview…

WearetheMovies.com (WM): How did the idea of Paradoxes come to you?
Meqdad Al-Kout (MAK): The first initial idea came to me when I was at work, when I started getting involved with my co-workers who happened to be from the subcontinent, and hearing their stories and how they are being treated in Kuwait. At the same time i was dealing with serious problems from my family and surroundings, and then the idea of wanting to portray these little mad stories started to develop bit by bit.

WM: Your film is clearly non-linear in structure and unconventional in style. Has it been screened in your native Kuwait, and if yes how has was it received by audiences there? How audiences here at the Dubai International Film Festival?
MAK: Due to the fanatic censorship in Kuwait I was only able to screen the film privately in small seminars and other places, and it received some good positive responses. The style is unconventional for a Kuwaiti audience, but I don’t believe it is new; and I admit it is hard sometimes to explain whatever you are trying to portray to certain audiences with absolutely no background of world cinema or independent films.

WM: What or who are some of your influences; and do you think there is growth for this kind of unorthodox films in Kuwait and the Arab world?
MAK: I can’t exactly pin-point my influences, but I guess I could mention some of my favorite filmmakers  such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Michelangelo Antonioni, Abbas Kiarostami; and I think American directors Woody Allen and the Coen brothers also have had a great influence on me. I believe, from personal experience, that it is still strange and unconventional for people in this part of the world to accept these kind of films, at least in my region…

WM: You wear 3 hats on this film — that of Director, Cinematographer and Editor. How was it to juggle these diverse roles and how easy was it to roundup the talent that we see on screen as well as the offscreen crew?
MAK: I shot this film with a home video camera with a budget of around $50. It was only me and my friend Mousaed working behind the camera. I edited the entire film while I was at work and finally it came out, so I don’t really think it was a hard film to shoot.

WM: You state at the beginning that the work we see is “Based on true characters and event”, how factual is this?
MAK: It’s true, as I have mentioned before those people and events are things I have personally experienced.

WM: The character of Raju is clearly from the subcontinent, yet he speaks Arabic in the film. Comment.
MAK: Raju represents a big number of Bengali’s in Kuwait who lead similar lives, and Arabic is the standard language they speak in public with everyone else; except when they address each other.

WM: At some points, such as the opening credits and the self acknowledging nature of the narrative, the film felt as if it might be trying to follow the kind of structure usually in Iranian films, like those from Mohsen Makhbalaf. Would you agree with this viewpoint?
MAK: I can’t really see the similarity between my film and Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s, apart from the black screen opening with voices in the background. The conversation in the beginning is a funny contradiction to some internal thoughts that some filmmakersmight have whenever making a film and choosing the style of the credits.

WM: What’s next for you?
MAK: I have just finished shooting a short film titled Moaz (Banana), and we will be editing it as soon as I come back from DIFF. The film portrays a married Engineer looking for an alternative sexual relation with another woman, which he finds in Mut’a marriage, a marriage that allows you to sleep with someone temporarily for a sum of money.

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