Historian Bettany Hughes and Film Alula Exec Zaid Shaker Talk Unearthing Nabataean Culture in ‘Lost Worlds’ Documentary
At the Variety Lounge presented by Film AlUla at the Red Sea Film Festival, Variety‘s Alex Ritman spoke with Bettany Hughes, the host, historian and producer of the documentary “Lost Worlds With Bettany Hughes: The Nabataeans” as well as Zaid Shaker, acting executive director of Film Alula.
The film traces the historical lineage of the Nabataean people from past to present. Hughes said the Nabataeans have a rich culture that many people do not know about and that has not bene previously portrayed on screen in mainstream documentaries.
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“The world needs to know about them,” Hughes said. “They’re the most incredible culture. They’re a kind of missing link in the big story of classical history. I’d go so far as to say we can’t understand classical history unless we understand their story.”
Shaker shared his enthusiasm regarding the project, specifically due to the vast cultural heritage at the core of the film.
“This enables us to show that there’s a preservation and responsibility into how we showcase these stories,” Shaker said. “At the end of the day, we work in film, we’re building a film infrastructure and an ecosystem. And film is about sharing stories.”
Shaker also emphasized that a major aspect of the filmmaking process for Film Alula pertained to building relationships with and learning from local communities.
Hughes added that many people featured in the documentary enjoyed having a platform to talk about their homes and their heritage.
“We always try to intertwine between the preservation of the locations and sort of engaging the
local community,” Shaker said. “The local community are our guardians, our custodians of these
amazing locations. So in order for our film industry to sort of be elevated and to nurture it properly, we
have to work on the talent we have.”
Hughes detailed how the documentary team had significant professional support throughout the production process, specifically citing their time filming scenes in the desert and the opportunity to witness rare archaeological sites.
She said physically holding artifacts in her hand was particularly exciting. Hughes highlighted a coin of Cleopatra as an object that resonated with her emotionally.
“It was always said that the women were strong. The evidence there proves that they were,” Hughes said. “That was really cool, thinking that there was a Nabataean woman or a man who held this coin, who knew about Cleopatra in Egypt and what was going on there.
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