Saudi Arabia’s film scene
In AlUla and across Saudi Arabia, the emerging screen sector is lifted by the ambition and potential of young Saudi nationals.
In AlUla and across Saudi Arabia, the emerging screen sector is lifted by the ambition and potential of young Saudi nationals.
As broadcasters look beyond the seismic shifts of the past couple of years, continued investment and new types of partnerships will be essential to assuring business continuity, industry CEOs said...
This era has been one of the most impressive in the history of the Middle East, with prolific content production increasingly carving a space for itself on the world stage....
'Kyaddala''s intense storyline instantly won the hearts of millions of viewers in Africa for its powerful portrayal of young adult issues on the continent. We bring you a behind-the-scenes look...
‘Sikkat Safar’, a Saudi comedy series that premiered on MBC 1 this Ramadan, was well received by GCC audiences. BroadcastPro ME spotlights the show and profiles the production house that...
Africa’s evolving content landscape has inspired many global companies to set up shop in the region but few have gone the extra mile like Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA)....
Neom’s media head honcho Wayne Borg is forging ahead with a raft of infrastructural investments and initiatives intended to make Saudi Arabia’s newest development an integrated media hub with all...
The multi-million-dollar Firdaus Studio by AR Rahman at the Expo 2020 site, now called Expo City Dubai, boasts many firsts. It is the region’s only music studio to be mentored...
There are movie fans, there are film lovers, and then there are cinephiles – such as Butheina Kazim, founder and MD of Cinema Akil, a trailblazer in the heart of...
Canon recently hosted a panel discussion with three well-known content creators working in different spaces – films, documentaries and social media platforms – to explore how they have evolved on...
The Neumann Studio @ BKP, a collaborative project between Sennheiser Middle East and Barry Kirsch Productions, featuring a mix of new gear, promises to take audio content creation to the...
Power League Gaming, MENA’s full-service gaming and esports activation company, has upped its game with a state-of-the-art $1.5m virtual production studio designed to give it an edge over the competition....
BroadcastPro ME teamed up with Abu Dhabi-based media company IP Studios to host a discussion in Arabic – a first for the market – on MENA sports production. Sarah Nathan...
A brand-new music recording studio in Dubai has become the go-to destination for many musicians and podcast hosts. With an ambience designed to inspire creativity, state-of-the-art infrastructure and a range...
Lina Matta has plenty of notches to her belt, from starting as a reporter in her home country, to producing documentaries in the US, to her current role as Director...
Seven years after opening a small office with five employees in Dubai’s Jumeirah Lake Towers, Augustus Media has moved into a 1,100sqm facility at Dubai Production City. BroadcastPro ME takes...
In 2020, 'The Mandalorian' marked a paradigm shift for filmmakers and producers. Inspired by its trailblazing production that saw an impressive combination of extended reality and virtual production, Fractal Studio...
From a small office in Bur Dubai to three facilities in the UAE, a service centre in Egypt and a full-fledged showroom and service operation in Saudi Arabia, Advanced Media...
When Saudi Sports Company (SSC) wanted an innovative production and broadcast solution to take some of its less exposed events to air, it turned to a cloud-based set-up. In cooperation...
January’s Super Cup wasn’t just a thrilling football match between two stalwart teams, it marked the debut of a number of exciting firsts on the UAE football scene, from buggy...
Powerful female voices are emerging on the MEA film landscape, and their stories are receiving recognition and applause across the globe. Canon brought together a small group at Expo 2020...
An NFT-starring sitcom – conceived, designed and produced in Dubai – has gone viral online and made $1m even before its official screening. BroadcastPro ME, in an exclusive interview with...
'The Alexandria Killings' will be produced under the Yalla Yalla banner, with globally renowned writers Terry George and Mariam Naoum co-writing the film. But before it took this fascinating turn,...
BroadcastPro Middle East's inaugural virtual sports broadcasting conference explored how the arrival of OTT and the more recent Covid-19 lockdown have impacted sport and disrupted traditional methods of production, rights...
The Arabic content market is a complex labyrinth that requires a fair degree of expertise to navigate, and the entry of new platforms has added to this complexity. Content expert...
One of the biggest MENA production houses has remained resilient in the face of the lockdown that crippled the production industry worldwide last year. Cedars Art Production (Sabbah Brothers) CEO...
With research and surveys showing that more than half of all video content is now consumed on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, Abu Dhabi-based broadcaster Sky News Arabia...
Mariam Al Serkal is one of a handful of Emirati women helming a TV channel in the UAE, with great success since she joined Majid TV three years ago. Under...
Best known in Dubai as the CEO of Advanced Media for the last two decades, in recent years he has also garnered awards for some of the films he has...
A new wave of filmmakers has emerged in the Arab world over the last decade or so, few of them with more critical acclaim and financial success than Marwan Hamed....
Senior executives at Spacetoon Family and Kids TV, Bidaya Media and Majid TV, as well as Emirati animation expert Mohammad Ahmed Fikree, talk to Shifa Naseer about their experience in...
'The Voice Middle East' has continuously raised the bar in MENA broadcasting with fresh elements added to the show each year. Visuwalls walks Vijaya Cherian through some of the key...
Yusuf Butti, Head of Media Technology at twofour54, takes us through local practices including an understanding of rules with regards to telcos, cloud and connectivity that are essential to building...
Media companies are in a race to create volumes of compelling, high-quality content for many different markets and distribution channels. But doing so has its challenges, explains Russell Wise.
Egyptian filmmakers Sherif El Bendary and Mohamed Siam, and El Gouna Film Festival founder Bushra Rozza talk to Shifa Naseer about regional film productions, trends in Egyptian cinema and where...
Saimanish Prabhakar, a recent high-school graduate from GEMS Metropole School, Dubai, whose latest film 'Metanoia' won several awards at film festivals, talks to Shifa Naseer about the success of his...
Canon recently brought together two filmmakers as part of a webinar to briefly discuss their ecosystem and their choice of technologies in making films. We bring you a report.
The UAE created history on July 20 when the nation initiated the first Arab space mission to Mars with the launch of the Hope probe. Dubai-based Media971’s Managing Partner and...
In a chat with Shifa Naseer, filmmaker Yassmina Karajah discusses her passion for filmmaking, as well as the stories and people that inspire her to make films.
Mustafa Abbas was recently in the spotlight for his latest short film, 'The Long Game', which won Best Mystery Film at the Los Angeles Film Awards 2020 and Best Action/Crime...
With the rise in popularity of the global animation industry, Saudi Arabia is gearing up to develop local animated content, which showcases the region’s culture. Vision Entertainment CEO Robert Knežević,...
'Woman', a documentary that premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September, captures the stories of 2,000 women across the globe. Anastasia Mikova, one of the film's directors, and colourist...
Ramadan has traditionally been the most important revenue-generating period of the year for the TV industry in the Middle East. This year, however, the lockdown has severely impacted productions leaving...
Nigerian filmmakers Saheed Apanpa and Tchidi Chikere and production house PUE Pictures CEO Phina Egbuchu speak with Shifa Naseer about the evolution of the cultural identity of Nigerian cinema.
At the premiere of his newest short film 'Amber' in Dubai last month, BroadcastPro ME caught up with Faisal Hashmi to explore his journey as a filmmaker, his proclivity for...
It is 2003. Saddam has fallen and an American-led coalition has taken over Iraq. For millennials resident in the Arab world during the noughties, 'Baghdad Central' recreates an old scenario...
With a camera on top, drones have extended the horizon for filmmakers and cinematographers. Dubai-based drone experts Rashad Al Safar of SkyVision, Epic Drone’s Shafi Saidu and Egyptian filmmaker Amr...
Broadcasters must leverage robust IP networks for more reliable delivery of low-latency, broadcast-quality live video, says Andreas Jacobi.
With esports snowballing in popularity, the biggest production players are clearly the gaming workstations, which are based on IT and IP technologies by their very nature, says Matt Allard.
In an exclusive interview with Shifa Naseer, Emirati film director Al Fahad talks about various projects including her Oscar-nominated documentary "The Tainted Veil" (2015), her production company, and her experiences...
Cloud offers several benefits in terms of speed, efficiency and cost compared to a traditional LTO storage, and can help solve problems in production that would usually call for an...
With the ongoing production of season nine of "The Million’s Poet" and the recently concluded season eight of "Prince of Poets", Abu Dhabi production house Clue Media is looking to...
Jordanian filmmaker Zain Duraie is making waves with award-winning movies that take a provocative stance on social and gender taboos. BroadcastPro ME spoke to her about her motivations, resources and...
What trends can we expect to see in the world of broadcast technology? We ask some manufacturers and solution providers
By Larissa Goerner Consumers are more content hungry than ever before, demanding content anytime, anywhere, on any screen – with stunning images. Around 600m people across 200 countries, including around...
Content consumption is at an all-time high, but advertising is at an all-time low and monetisation has become challenging. MENA leaders discussed how they are revisiting business models in a...
In our first-ever Women in Media discussion, senior panellists argued that women have the ability to turn around a business by bringing fresh and innovative perspectives to traditional modes of...
Key luminaries from the esports ecosystem converged at the BroadcastPro Summit to discuss the direction that esports is taking, its growth prospects as a profession and its future in the...
The second panel looked at IP migration plans among MENA broadcasters, in association with Diversified. The aim was to understand their IP vision – whether they see operational benefits in...
Leading content owners came together at the BroadcastPro Summit to highlight the state of content in terms of acquisition and distribution, and how it is affected by market trends and...