The Director's Words

Tim Langford (Director)

For me this film is really about how art and artists function in a culture where art and State patronage are intertwined. You don't bite the hand that feeds you, so how do you negotiate the tricky relationship where you are obliged to tread a fme line between receiving the necessary State sanctioned approvals and support versus the desire to challenge the status-quo, present the truth (as you see it) and criticize the power elites?

The key message is contained in the film’s opening sequence: We glimpse a huge piece of roadside graffiti emblazoned with the words 'Art is meant to Disturb' (the last thing I expected to see in Kuwait City!). Because it seems to me, that Art and its execution is 'negotiation' in this part of the world.

Shakir Abal (Director I Producer)

For me this film is all about dictatorship as played in the Shakespearean play "Richard III" and the effect that dictators have had on the modern Middle Eastern countries. The chaos that is evident in the film is but just a reflection of the true situation all over the ME. This film was made before all the upheavals in Tunisia, Egypt and others, but it seems that it predicted what was going to happen. It is so ironic that the play was performed in front of President Bashar Al Assad of Syria in 2009, and he reacted as if Richard III had no reflection on how he rules his country. This film also tries to address foreign interference from ancient Empires to present day Empires.

Richard Ill- "An Arab VIP" At Sultan Gallery- 13th December, 2011