Noor Al Qasimi’s short film “The First” traces her grandmother Sheikha Nama bint Majid Al Qasimi’s pioneering role in shaping national education.
DUBAI : A 20-year-old film student has captured national and international acclaim for a short documentary documenting the life of her grandmother, Sheikha Nama bint Majid Al Qasimi, who made history as the United Arab Emirates’ first female Emirati teacher.
Noor Al Qasimi, a third-year film student at a university in Sharjah, originally produced the documentary, titled “The First,” as a routine academic assignment. Structured as a personal cinematic letter from a granddaughter to her grandmother, the film explores Sheikha Nama’s pivotal role in laying the foundation for women’s education in the UAE during the late 20th century.
The short film secured the Best Emirati Film award at the 12th Emirates Film Festival on July 26. It has also received official screenings and recognition at both the Dubai City Film Festival and the Mannheim Arts & Film Festival in Germany.
Through archival imagery and personal reflections, the narrative details Sheikha Nama’s work at Fatima Al Zahra School in Sharjah during the 1970s. During this period, formal education for women was in its infancy across the Trucial States and the newly formed federation.
Al Qasimi noted that while she grew up aware of her grandmother’s historical distinction, the process of researching and editing the film deepened her understanding of the structural challenges Emirati women faced decades ago.
“I grew up knowing that my grandmother had achieved something historically significant, but to me, she was always simply my grandmother,” Al Qasimi said. “As I became older, I began to understand the courage it must have taken for her to become the UAE’s first Emirati female teacher at a time when women had far fewer opportunities.”
The documentary’s reception has prompted Al Qasimi to focus her future directorial work on documenting historical firsts across the Emirates. She plans to build a dedicated film portfolio centered on early pioneers in education, public service, and community leadership whose contributions remain largely unrecorded in mainstream digital archives.
“Memory can be fragile, especially within families, and stories can easily disappear when they are not documented,” Al Qasimi said. “Sometimes the story closest to you is the one most worth telling.”
Film educators and local festival circuits have increasingly highlighted young Emirati directors turning to personal heritage to build the country’s modern non-fiction cinema archive. Al Qasimi intends to continue developing her documentary profile while completing her undergraduate film degree in Sharjah.
