Ali Mustafa

Who is Ali Mustafa?

Ali F. Mostafa is a British-Emirati filmmaker, director and producer who is credited as the director of the first Emirati feature-film City of Life. Born in 1981, Mustafa received wide acclaim for his debut in filmmaking; he has been branded as "Best Emirati Filmmaker" in the Dubai International Film Festival and won the 'Young Filmmaker of the Year' award at the Digital Studio Awards 2010.

According to Mostafa, the inspiration for producing City of Life came because “I was tired of people comparing Dubai to a Disneyland. Most of them take one look at the glitzy buildings and assume it’s an artificial place. My film has none of that. It has real people with real problems. Like any other city in the world, my film shows both the positives and the negatives." Mustafa faced initial controversy when a couple cinemas refused to showcase his movie who they claimed portrayed Dubai in a negative light. He however squashed the rumours, saying that with his film, he hoped to change the global perception of his hometown and put it on par with cities such as London and New York which also face "real problems." According to data produced by Italia Film International the movie ranked second in the local box office and successfully made over 500,000 dirhams in its first weekend; there were reports that makers were deciding to show the film at the Cannes Film Festival later in the year of 2010.