md.alheera@gmail.com

Mansour AlHeera is a film artist and a conceptual artist, his work also includes film theory, writing, and interactive installations. Mansour seeks “newness” in his work through the bending of different disciplines.

Themes/ AlHeera is interested in the possibility for humor to exist, as a theme, in the Emirati art scene. His work also examines specific aspects spirituality and the way it manifests itself in our culture.

Mansour’s work also studies our relationship to public spaces in the UAE. More specifically, his work documents selective public spaces that are hidden in plain sight, so to speak, making them seem as private spaces.

Education/ Mansour traveled to California to pursue his Film education and practice in 2014. He attended New York Film Academy (Los Angeles) and after completing half the program he moved to San Francisco and lived there until the summer of 2019. In San Francisco he attended and graduated from California College of the Arts, in which he was enrolled in the Film program with a minor in Visual Studies.

Film / Mansour sees importance in sharing experiences with an audience rather than sharing stories. “Stories live in the past and in the future, experiences are lived right now”. His film work often attempts to give the viewer an opportunity to interact with the work in a present manner that does not motivate the viewer to leave their perspective behind. This ideology towards films is why a big portion of his film work take shape as interactive and/or immersive film installations.

Experiment / Mansour is interested in studying visual culture and the viewer’s experience. He creates privately exhibited films that includes dedicated focus on the viewers’ post-viewing response and thoughts. These experiments are intended to examine basic principles used in film, but more importantly to explore their possibilities for newness.

Writing / Mansour’s first experience with writing (professionally speaking) began with screenwriting and “creative writing”. But then he also found interest in Film theory & Philosophy, which is why he academically dove into Visual Studies. His writings/theories are highly influenced by the french new wave, specially, by the the french film theorist André Bazin.

Interdisciplinary / Mansour believes that his work never progressed as rapidly as when he began mixing between art and design, or between any two fields for that matter. His work in painting had influenced his focus on physical materials while he was working on his thesis film “Tick-Tock”, which lead to him using a mix of hanging fabrics to project his film on. Also, in an attempt to bring the “film world” into his design practice, he created The Character Archive which is a collectively created folder intended to help bring truth into the process of character creation in the UAE.

Up to date, Mansour has been a crew member on over 50 short films working in different departments. He has also created several of his own projects that include short films and art installations, and he also worked on a few events and festivals.

Mansour is also the founder of LNL ARTHOUSE, a film business from-which he creates commissioned art works and films.