Game Changers The Change Issue

The films keeper: The Emirati woman on a mission to change perspectives through cinema

Butheina Kazem is the force behind Cinema Akil, the Arabian Gulf Region’s first art house cinema.

Butheina Kazem is the force behind Cinema Akil, the Arabian Gulf Region’s first art house cinema, which officially opened the doors of its new, permanent home in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue on September 28, 2018. The cinema is breathing new life into a range of alternative films, including conscious, independent, classic and repertoire films, which Butheina says lead you to be “throwing yourself even more deeply into the well of thought”.