Hamlet 1948 credit IMDB.com

Official EAFOL16 blogger Asma Merchant writes about her first day at the Festival's film screenings

I am excited to be part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature yet again but from a whole different perspective this year around. I am going to be blogging about my experience at this year's festival.

This is the first time film screenings are a part of the Festival and are being held at Novo Cinemas, Dubai Festival City. And my first assignment was to go for a 1948 adaptation of the Shakespeare play Hamlet.

I confess I have not read Shakespeare at all. I didn't chance upon it in school and after that I couldn't really get past the first page. So a film screening was definitely an easier introduction to Shakespeare.

The film also had an intro talk by Abdulla Al Dabbagh who is a specialist on Shakespeare. It was a tad embarrassing to be the only person in the crowd who hadn't read Hamlet but his talk did give me insight into the character and motivations of Hamlet.

I have to say, I had some difficulty in the beginning of the film because of the Shakespearean English, but it didn't take too long to catch on. And, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The story, the acting, the drama was all spot on.

I am completely awed by Shakespeare and how what he has written so long ago is still a part of contemporary English. There were so many phrases that I have heard of and used despite not reading Shakespeare. The most obvious one being 'To be or not to be; that is the question'

There are a few more Shakespeare screenings happening and I think everyone should give it a shot because… 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' So get out of your dream world and come join us at EAFOL16!