My Experience at MFECC

Written by: Raihana Al Hashemi (@rai7ana)

Article in brief: the author writes about her experience of visiting the Middle East Film & Comic Con exhibition that was held in April this year, and how it reflects the home grown talents in the country.

I’m not a geek, but I work with them; I work for them, and enjoy their company very much. They can talk non-stop about their passion no matter what it is and I enjoy every bit of it. And like every geek and friends of geeks, to us, Comic-Con was the most anticipated event of the year. It’s the day where fans of different types of entertainment outlets gather to celebrate their love for fiction, meet celebrities, and embody their favorite characters by cos-playing during the event; dressing up and pretending to be a fictional character usually a sci-fi, comic book, or anime character.

On the Day

That Friday afternoon I walked into the World Trade Center shoulder to shoulder to a bunch of zombies with ripped clothes and blood stained bodies. I saw Riku from Death Note just standing in the corner with an apple in his hands, and Call of Duty snipers posing with fans in front of a camera. MFECC is the only place where Otaku haven all come to life be it Anime, Video game, TV-Show, and movies. It’s a time where finally what may seemingly be the outcasts of a popular culture celebrate their own interests with the rest of the world. It’s like that time you bought tickets for that thing that none of your friends wanted to see but ended up going anyway thinking you’re the only person who’s interested in this stuff, well it turns out – you’re not alone

The Talents

It was a lot to take in as you walked through the masses of people trying to go through the various kiosks with the most awesome merchandise you can get around town. I personally have eyed the T-shirts businesses most notably @hudoob featuring one of my favorite local artists @khaloodies. As well as a Lebanese based T-shirt design company that had Captain tsubasa (Majid) on one of the shirts covering his mouth with a local patterned scarf.

But my absolute favorite part of the MFECC booths were the UAE based talents that showcased their art, merchandise; sitting in smaller tables neighboring each other. I went through each looking carefully at the young entrepreneurs who expanded their creativity into goods and services that appeal to the passers.

A great booth was the ThinkUp row at the artists ally in MEFCC; amazing talents, visibility and command. Some of the talents that were available are Ali Kashwani, Yasmeen Al Shyoukh, Aisha Al Suwaidi, Fay Al-Sultan, Majida Al Musalli, Ahlam Al Qasim, Maraim Al Zaabi, Bader Al Shirawi, Osha Al Qasimi and Ahmed Al Nazari. I’d like to take a moment to recognize how amazing the ThinkUp team is, their support for Emarati talents, their resilience in making an impact towards showcasing creative content and giving back to the community with their proactive campaigns and seeding volunteers to different charitable causes. You can check out Think up latest activities and projects here www.thinkup.ae and on their social media accounts: @ThinkUpGCC

The Last day of MFECC, I was able to chat with a few UAE talents that created card games, board games and manga. One that caught my attention was Psycho-Kinetic by Saeed ali. An exciting board game designed to battle in tournament style. For more info contact Saed Ali at psycho-Kinetic@live.com

All good things must come to an end. As MEFCC ended I realized how much we need this outlet to showcase and release the nerd energy this youth has in this region. Honestly, I vote for two MEFCC per year. Because one just isn’t enough!