Brains, beauty and business acumen: MOJEH meets the co-founder of Cinema Akil
“We felt there was room for a kind of cinema that engages communities and reflects their realities, asks the tougher questions, makes people think about their place in the world, sparks debates, and also looks at the artists in lm making,” Butheina Hamed Kazim tells us.
She is, of course, talking about Cinema Akil, of which she is the co-founder. Starting off as a nomadic cinema, travelling around the UAE four years ago, Butheina opened her first arthouse space in Al Quoz in September 2018, feeling it was the right time in the Dubai landscape for a permanent fixture.
“I think there are a lot of places that benefit from what we have created, but there is something very exciting about being in Dubai. It’s very diverse. You are in a place that is at the forefront of defining ways of what city life is like. You see a palpable change and that’s exciting.”
Although she admits the path has been challenging, enriching the culture scene in the UAE, her homeland, is ultimately very rewarding. “Being able to show the films that change people’s lives, and being able to create a space that makes people from different communities in Dubai get together and get to know each other on an equal playing eld” has made the journey worthwhile, and Butheina’s advice is to always “try doing things, and believe your own story and conviction.”
Posing confidently in a striking terracotta suit and her trademark red lipstick, Butheina looks every inch the culture heroine. She’s totally at ease with being her own boss, too.
“The decision making and the ability to define certain conventions, define a culture of working, shape an idea from A to Z, and be involved in every aspect has its benefits. A lot of pressure, a lot of rewards and a lot of responsibility too,” she muses.
With a style that’s artfully polished and considered, she finds inspiration in magazines and film. “It’s not a style per se, but when I found it – an article in Pitchfork (an American online magazine) called ‘Ghetto Regal’ – the concept just clicked. It was a combination of glamour, ostentatious air and street style, a ready-to-go attitude.”
Naturally film plays an integral part in inspiring the way she dresses, too. “I can feel Bollywood, and I can feel Tim Burton, it creates an amazing repository. A lot of my reference choices are from film,” Butheina tells us.
Making sure that we note her choices are always diverse – “Some days it’s Fendi and some days, Nike” – Butheina’s preferred working wardrobe is red lipstick, sneakers, some form of jeans, a statement top and big earrings.
“I’m trying to not get too caught up in power dressing and drawing from your outer skin, I believe sartorial choices inform the way you feel and think, but I also feel that has to be drawn from the inside. I think it is our responsibility as women to reclaim these things and reinvent them.”
