Production Features

September 13, 2020

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.

UAE Mars Mission: The Power of Hope

September 5, 2020

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...

Breaking the mould with filmmaker Yassmina Karajah

August 18, 2020

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.

Playing The Long Game

June 16, 2020

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’ documentary spotlights women worldwide

May 17, 2020

'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...

With Heba Korayem on how Ramadan programming has fared in the face of Covid-19

May 6, 2020

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...

The Rise of Nigerian Cinema

April 8, 2020

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.

Faisal Hashmi: Crafting A Film Career

March 12, 2020

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...

Making The case For ‘Baghdad Central’ with Kate Harwood

March 9, 2020

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...

Drones In Filmmaking: View From The Top

March 6, 2020

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...

Building Smarter Newsrooms In The Cloud

February 21, 2020

Broadcasters must leverage robust IP networks for more reliable delivery of low-latency, broadcast-quality live video, says Andreas Jacobi.

The Power Of IP In Enabling Esports Production

February 18, 2020

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.

A Step In The Right Direction

February 15, 2020

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 Is On The List

February 11, 2020

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...

Clue Media: Raising the standards of reality TV

February 5, 2020

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...

Behind the Scenes with Zain Duraie on “Give Up The Ghost”

January 17, 2020

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...

Predictions for 2020: The next big thing in broadcast!

January 10, 2020

What trends can we expect to see in the world of broadcast technology? We ask some manufacturers and solution providers

Going remote to deliver more live content

December 27, 2019

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...

What’s in store for media in 2020?

December 24, 2019

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...

Diversity drives innovation and growth in business

December 21, 2019

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...

Esports: Bringing style and substance to local gaming

by Angitha Pradeep

December 18, 2019

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...

Exploring the IP Roadmap with MENA broadcasters

December 15, 2019

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...

Content: Where is it heading in the MENA region

by Angitha Pradeep

December 8, 2019

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...

Remote production offers a win-win for broadcasters

November 17, 2019

“The pressure is on broadcasters to find ways to produce more content, more affordably, without compromising quality”

Branded Digital Video Content: Where are we headed?

November 17, 2019

With data analytics and audience profiling offering tangible results, several brands are shifting much of their ad spend to the digital domain. Phil Griffiths, founder of UAE-based Nomad Media, looks...

Behind-the-scenes with Anas Tolba for Between Two Seas

November 17, 2019

Between Two Seas, a film by Egyptian director Anas Tolba that champions women’s rights, has captured international attention by bagging awards at film festivals around the world. Tolba explains the...

From Defeatism to Victory: A Sea Change in Egyptian Cinema

November 14, 2019

Egypt used to be a hotbed of Arabic film production, until political instability and other factors dethroned it. But new war and action movies are taking Egyptian cinema back on...

Transitioning to UHD HDR production in the MENA region

October 15, 2019

Once reserved purely for the emerging technologies sections at trade shows, new content with ever more pixels, higher frame rates and wider colour gamuts is having a transformative effect on...

Egypt scores with AFCON 2019

September 12, 2019

This year, the African Cup of Nations in Egypt made history with special 4K coverage of 10 of its 52 matches, based on a 24-camera set-up.

A behind-the-scenes look at filming Dabur Vatika’s extreme challenge

by Rachel Dawson

September 6, 2019

Dubai producer Kinjal Tanna took on an extreme challenge: filming wing walking at 1,500ft at 300km/h, to test the grit of Vatika Naturals styling gel. Tanna tells Rachel Dawson how...

Tour Icon Art’s $4m upgraded kit and studio facilities

by Rachel Dawson

August 11, 2019

In keeping with the rising demand for film projects in the UAE, Icon Art has revamped its kit and studio facilities as part of a $4m investment. CEO Zakir Hussain...

Unearthing 7 Production’s formula for high-intensity coverage of F1

August 9, 2019

For the first time ever, a Dubai production house is trotting the globe with the FIA Formula One World Championship to bring exclusive content to dedicated fans in the Middle...

Behind the scenes of “Ramez in the Waterfall”

by adminbpme

August 6, 2019

Emily Pooley, Artem’s Senior Technician and Director of Marketing and Sales, went to Bali where the show was filmed with her colleague, Adam Sawatzki. Below she describes their experience.

In conversation with the team behind the BBC’s Planet series

July 15, 2019

With 3,000 hours of footage from across the seven continents, the BBC hopes to release one of its most ambitious natural history productions in late 2019, in the run-up to...

The Intruders to launch in UAE and GCC today

May 2, 2019

We bring you some production notes from the team behind The Intruder, launching in theatres today.

Documenting the undocumented

April 7, 2019

A creative directorial approach and powerful performances from non-actors are at the heart of Capernaums hard-hitting narrative. Read our interview with the director-producer couple Nadine Labaki and Khaled Mouzanar.

Carving out her niche

by Garima Rawat

March 8, 2019

From practising medicine to making animated programmes for little children, Enas Yaqoob has come a long way in following her passion for telling stories. Heres how she set up media...

The rigours of post production magic

January 13, 2019

While robots are editing movie trailers and plug-ins are automating the grading process, the deft skills of a manual colourist are not in danger of being usurped anytime soon. In...

Gearing to meet demand for quality Arabic content: MENA producers debate

December 30, 2018

Theres never been greater demand for quality Arabic content, but are the content specialists the production houses, distributors, commissioning editors and content producers able to fuel that demand,...

Creating content that travels: The Production Panel at the BroadcastPro Summit

December 3, 2018

From the impact of the exit of Turkish drama and the opening of the Saudi media market, to honing the skills of local talent and creating high-quality Arabic content that...

“All This Victory” – in conversation with Director Ahmad Ghossein

November 26, 2018

Ahmad Ghossein.Ahmad Ghosseins first feature film, All This Victory, is as much about the July 2006 war and a universal human story as it is about...

Redefining regional content: Arab Format Lab

November 5, 2018

From left: Khulud Abu Homos, CEO and co-founder of Arab Format Lab with Chief Operating Officer Mustafa Alaidaroos.Khulud Abu Homos and Mustafa Alaidaroos are geared to experiment...

Filmmaker Reshel Shah Kapoor on documenting deified children

October 31, 2018

In a crowded marketplace, 17-year-old Arshad mocks his friend Jaspal and says: You tried to get that girl, but when she saw you, she ran away. The audience at the...

Bringing Cirque live to TV audiences in Saudi Arabia

October 7, 2018

Hadi Ghanem, owner of Seven Production.With an estimated audience of 200 million viewers watching the Saudi National Day celebrations on TV, the event became a global...

Filming a magnum opus in Saudi Arabia

October 4, 2018

Abdullah Alnafeesah, Chairman of Al Nafees Holding Company and Nebras Films.When the 35-year-old ban on cinema halls was lifted in Saudi Arabia, Nebras Films had already co-produced...

The making of Suzan Iravanian’s Farsi film “Leakage”

September 30, 2018

Suzan Iravanian. Suzan Iravanians feature film Leakage weaves the issues of gender into the troubling centrality of oil in the regions politics. We speak to Suzan...

Bidding for international recognition: Jac Mulder’s feature film “Twisted Blues”

August 28, 2018

Lending international flavour to Twisted Blues are some easily recognisable faces such as The Scientists Brittany Benjamin (seated right), LBJs Brent Bailey (top right) and Greys...

Pioneering Reality TV in the MENA region

June 29, 2018

Samer Arzouni, founder and MD at Spotlife Films Production on the sets of 'I am a Nat Geo Photographer'.Reality TV show I am a Nat Geo Photographer returned...

Behind-the-scenes with the BBC’s natural history team

April 25, 2018

BBC TV legend Sir David Attenborough was in Liverpool to launch the new documentary series Dynasty to more than 700 international buyers at the BBC Worldwide...

Emirati filmmaker on his award-winning feature film, “Camera”

March 12, 2018

Emirati filmmaker Abdullah Aljunaibi (extreme left) with crew.With his debut feature film Camera garnering positive reviews and awards, Emirati filmmaker Abdullah Aljunaibi speaks to Supriya Srinivas...

Box-office triumph in Bahrain: Making of Yousif Kooheji’s ‘Taffash’

January 29, 2018

Comedy adventure Taffash and the Forty Thieves, produced by AK Studios Bahrain, went through a three-month pre-production phase and a 40-day shoot 10 days in...

Will MENA content travel: Content experts debate

December 10, 2017

The panel at the annual ASBU BroadcastPro ME Selevision Summit and Awards 2017 on MENA content, could not predict where the regions next internationally successful production will emerge, but agreed...

Dreaming big

September 10, 2017

Filmmakers Guy Mannion and Thomas Mitchell.Filmmakers Guy Mannion and Thomas Mitchell recount their journey as producers and business owners in Dubai as their production house, 815 Studios,...

Up close with wildlife

September 10, 2017

A serval cat in South Africa leaps three meters through the air to attack her rodent prey from above. She sports the largest ears and longest...

History in the making

February 7, 2017

Dubai-based 7 Production became a part of history in the making with its coverage of the Dubai Canal opening ceremony as it brought spectacular images from the event to TV...

Red Alert

January 10, 2017

Joel Schaeffer of Dubai Film on location with RED cameras.In an exclusive interview with Vibhuti Arora, Dubai Film speaks about capturing the action in the Jetman...

Call of the wild

November 2, 2016

Jonathan Ali Khan filming.Jonathan Ali Khan, well-known natural history filmmaker, is presently filming a brand new series on the UAE's wildlife. He speaks exclusively to Vibhuti...

Homegrown Aliens

August 7, 2016

The UAEs first feature-length sci-fi production was screened in theatres last month. Produced entirely in Dubai, the film is a visual treat and employs some of the latest tools and...

Serving up local flavours