EXAMINING THE CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF KUWAIT’S BIDOON: A LOOK AT SHARQ AND KA3BOOL

Abstract

The Bidoon are a stateless and marginalized community in Kuwait, their status owing to Kuwaiti law that restricts the granting of citizenship only to those born to Kuwaiti fathers. While the Bidoon have consistently fought against their statelessness, they have done so to little avail, as the Kuwaiti government, along with the mass media, have advanced exclusionary narratives that solidify their status. This research presents a deeper look at the social exclusion of Bidoon, focusing on two short films, Sharq and Ka3bool, the first of which addresses the sociologic dichotomy between the hadar, the urban elite, and the badu, those who come from nomadic backgrounds. The second film focuses on the struggles of a Bidoon main character, highlighting the exclusionary policies that he must confront. Taken together, the films challenge the idea of a collective Kuwaiti identity, though not always successfully, as Sharq falls short in its attempt to convey the inequitable reality that characterizes hadar and badu existence. Meanwhile, Ka3bool is arguably more successful in this regard, as it defies typical representative boundaries of the Bidoon and humanizes its character, even though, owing to its online presence, it did not receive as much attention as its counterpart.