Fantastic Fest 2015: Zinzana
How to make a nation's first genre film
If you don't know much about the cinema of the United Arab Emirates, it's not surprising. But Zinzana (aka Rattle the Cage), the whip-smart sealed room noir with a deliciously black sense of humor, could change all that.
AC: Zinzana is such a sealed room drama. The camera only leaves the police station once, always either on Talal or Dabaan.
MAA: One of the reasons I wanted to do this was because it was a container film. I was watching Phone Booth and I was watching Panic Room, and any container that's done well is done well because it's planned. As a first-timer, I think it would be an accomplishment to make a container film, because everyone would expect it would be basic. But I wanted it to make it as kickass as possible, and having this restriction would only mean you have to find creative ways of making it fast or making it slow or making it tense. We did a lot of planning to shoot in that space, and if this was the location, I literally divided it into squares, and planned from scene one to the end of the film to make sure we don't repeat shots, that it's very interactive. It's in the same space, but it looks new. It's in the same space, but it feels like a new location.
Another method I wanted to use is that I wanted the free camera. Even though it's a container film, the location would never dictate my camera. It would flow wherever it wants. Through bars, through the sprinkler, go through the wall.
RY: It's the only free character in the film.
