Mahra takes UAE’s story to Milan Expo

Saving her grandmother's life, strapping on a harness to fly into the past with a magical pearl and rapping about green issues was part of the job description for a young Emirati starring in her debut film that tells a compelling story of a nation's survival.
Mahra Hesham Mustafa, 8, plays Sarah in The Family Tree and her adventures will be the centrepiece of the UAE pavilion at the Milan Expo in May.
The Grade 4 pupil at Raffles World Academy said she learnt valuable lessons when playing her character, who moves from being glued to her mobile phone to learning how her grandmother's generation coped with scarce water, food and resources.
Playing a child of today constantly wired to technology, Mahra does not immediately understand why her grandmother is upset that the family's special palm tree may be felled. Her journey into the past helped her to understand how the future is determined by actions taken earlier.
"I never really thought of this before but now I realise if you don't have a past you won't have a future because if you waste all your resources there are some that can never come back,” said Mahra.
"I did not know that in the past they ran out of food very easily. In the beginning of the film, I'm this girl who is mostly with her phone. She can't fully understand when her grandmother is upset that people want to take away her tree because they want to build there. So when I ask her why the tree should not be cut, she puts a pearl down on our iPad; then the most amazing part of the movie happens when it transforms her and we fly in the air and go back to the past.”
Lessons in school helped her to grasp the film's theme.
"We're learning about sustaining resources and it connects with the movie,” Mahra said. "We should not waste. In the movie, my grandmother is close to dying so I climb a tree, to save her I give her dates, look for water. In the past people thought they had water but this is very little water for people in the future.”
Salem Al Ameri, the UAE Expo 2015 commissioner general, said the film links with the striking dune-inspired pavilion to highlight the interplay between land, energy and water to create a sustainable future.
"It is a strong and moving show inspired by the Expo theme of ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life',” he said
Mahra's mother, Yusra Al Hashimi, said the family was proud she was chosen to act in the short film about the UAE.
She took 10 days leave from school over a one-month period during filming late last year in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Liwa.
"Mahra probably did not realise the time and energy it would take but she was committed, disciplined and worked long hours,” said Mrs Al Hashimi.
"She was exposed to so many new experiences. Mahra would come back and talk to her brothers and sisters about how people lived in the past, about our heritage. The most difficult thing was keeping this confidential.”
The expo team required the movie to be kept under wraps so Mrs Hashimi and her husband kept news about Mahra's role restricted to their six children.
Learning her lines was not difficult for Mahra, but she faced her fear of heights when strapped into a harness to simulate flying. The other challenge was keeping the secret.
Her parents will take her to Milan for the May opening so she can see her film first-hand. Mahra plans to celebrate her ninth birthday in Italy on May 4 with a six-layer chocolate cake.
"Nobody knows in my school, not even my cousins know about this,” said Mahra.
"That was really difficult for me because I can't really stop talking. But I didn't want to spoil a secret, I know it's important.”
Source: The National