Amal Al Agroobi’s 90% Psyche

She won the Best Up & Coming Filmmaker of the year Award at the digital studio Awards’2013, her documentary Half Emirati was the most talked about film in the UAE, she was a Ted speaker at the Ted x Fujairah and, she has participated in many film festivals in the UAE and worldwide.

These accomplishments are few under her belt of success and are proof to her and to anyone that with hard work, and determination, dreams can come true.

These accomplishments are under the name of Amal Al Agroobi, half Emirati and half Syrian filmmaker, entrepreneur, and humanitarian. Amal says, “If you want something bad enough you can make it happen.”

During the 23 years she spent outside the UAE, Amal did her undergraduate degree in biomedical science in Durham University, and then continued her masters in Neurosciences in University College of London. After working as a lab technician in Abu Dhabi, Amal chose to leave her job and enroll in a media training programme.

When I asked Amal why she chose to make this transition in her life, she said, “I feel like life is all about journeying, adventuring, and education, I have always had an interest in film. Just because you’re a scientist that doesn’t mean you can’t be creative.”

This has influenced her work as a film maker; she recently finished her new film called, 90% Psyche, an experimental film, which is in the form of visual arts.

90% Psyche, film is a visual representation of a Freudian personality test, and is based on five questions.

Fist, what is your first favourite animal and why? Second, what is your second favorite animal and why? Third, if you had to go out and buy a drinking glass, what kind of glass would you buy? Fourth, what are your views on the ocean? Finally, you are in a room with four walls, and there is a hole on one side of the walls, how big is that hole to you and what do you see on the other side?

The answers to these questions reveal a lot about your personality; which brings us to the title of the film, 90% Psyche means 90% personality. The film combines both real time and animated footage to represent the answers to these questions and the characteristics that a person might have.

Amal states, “That the UAE is ready for something a little bit different, we don’t want to see anymore falcon stories and desert stories. I like to work on different projects, and I am curious to see what the audience’s reaction is to this film,” She adds.

These five questions can make any person to question him or herself in order for one to find the answers that are kept within. The first question tackles, who you are as a person, and how do you see yourself.

The second question is about, your ideal partner that you have in mind. The third question talks about, the glass you choose to buy says a lot about the relationship you’re looking for. The fourth question is about life and what are your views on in.

The final questions talks about the connection with God, spirituality, and the afterlife.

Today, Amal influences many young creative minds, to follow their passion in life and take a chance on their dreams.

As a filmmaker, Amal always strives to always present to her audience something different and unique; 90% Psyche is one of many of Amal’s projects that we hope will receive good criticism and views in the United Arab Emirates and around the world.