I wish all of you a happy and blessed New Year. May 2014 be filled with new broadcast projects that are innovative, out-of-the-box and award-winning, and may each one of you have a role to play in the success of the MENA regions TV and film industry. Technology wise, the broadcast industry in the Middle […]
I wish all of you a happy and blessed New Year. May 2014 be filled with new broadcast projects that are innovative, out-of-the-box and award-winning, and may each one of you have a role to play in the success of the MENA regions TV and film industry.
Technology wise, the broadcast industry in the Middle East is almost on par with international entities with the deployment of HD/3D infrastructure and the availability of multi-platform services.
The one area where we have significantly lacked in the past has been on the content creation side. While Arabic ranks as the sixth language in the world in terms of GDP, the Middle East contributed only 0.72% of the films produced in the world between 2005
and 2010. That is seriously tragic.
The content landscape, however, has seen significant change in the last couple of years and we saw its most visible results this year at the Dubai International Film Festival. The fantastic line-up of Arab films this year is testimony to the rise of Arab cinema and more importantly, the emergence of a new ecosystem to boost production in the GCC.
From just one small Emirates Film Competition in 2003, we have several film festivals today that dont just attract local talent but also international celebrities. Homegrown cinema, especially, has made definite progress in the UAE with scripts becoming tighter and local filmmakers collaborating with international talent.
In addition, DIFFs recent partnership with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take local films to new heights.
DIFF has truly created an appetite in the GCC for more Arabic content that goes beyond Hollywood and Bollywood fare. Alongside that, the UAE government is working hard to create incentives, nurture local talent and build the infrastructure required to create a healthy production ecosystem.
Content is king and while the UAE has recognised this and made significant inroads in this direction, other GCC countries need to follow suit.
May 2014 be a year, when more Arab governments resolve to promote art, culture and cinema, so that more content is created and our filmmakers can tell stories that the world will want to see and hear.
