Free film screenings at Louvre Abu Dhabi explore the Arabian Peninsula

Louvre Abu Dhabi’s current exhibition, Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi

Arabia, displays the rich and untold history of the Arabian Peninsula, from the dawn of civilisation to modernity.

The critically-acclaimed exhibit takes people on a journey around a region so often mistaken for just an empty desert. Now, three film screenings also give visitors the chance to discover the region’s deserts, the underwater wildlife of the Red Sea, and meet the women working the male-dominated world of camel beauty pageants in the UAE.

Desert Seas (2011) is a 46-minute Englishlanguage documentary in which David Attenborough unveils two underwater realms. That is, the Gulf – as the “ugly sister” of the two seas – and the Red Sea, where nesting green turtles and dancing terns swim beside majestic whale sharks and aquatic birds. It screens on Saturday January 19, at 5pm.

Nearby Sky (2014) is an 85-minute documentary screened in Arabic with English subtitles. It follows Fatima Ali Alhameli, the first female Emirati camel owner, who participates in the country’s camel beauty pageant competition and Abu Dhabi’s dromedary auctions. She faced opposition but was determined to represent women in this maledominated industry. It screens on Saturday January 26, at 5pm.

Finally, Theeb (2014), the Arabic-language film directed by Naji Abu Nowar, will screen on Saturday February 2, at 5pm. It won a BAFTA in 2016 and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the same year. It follows young Theeb, the mischievous son of a sheikh from a Bedouin tribe, which lives in a forgotten corner of the Ottoman Empire. It has English subtitles.