AMT has undergone regional expansion in recent years, establishing an official branch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and a service center in Cairo, Egypt.
For over two decades, Advanced Media Trading, familiarly known as AMT, has been supporting its wide spectrum of creative consumers, artists, entrepreneurs, and professionals. As the largest distributor of professional video, photo, broadcast and cinema equipment and accessories in the Middle East and North Africa, AMT has earned the reputation of a powerhouse in the industry by offering and delivering exceptional services from consultancy, training and sales to installation, repair, and maintenance.
Yet AMT is more than a simple distributor, but rather an added value reseller whose highest priority is delivering the technical necessities and demands of its diverse clientele. AMT’s main motivation is investigating, identifying, and adapting the latest technological trends and developments, and recognising how these developments can benefit stakeholders. These objectives are not solely focused on pursuing profit but rather directed towards finding and offering solutions that encourage and contribute to future advancements in media.
In recent years, AMT has expanded regionally with an official branch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and a service centre in Cairo, Egypt. But the expansion has been more than just physical. AMT has focused on expanding its client base by appealing to a new audience. “We are grateful to every single one of our loyal clients and customers for supporting us through thick and thin since we founded the company in 2002, and we will always continue to offer the most curated service to every single one of them. We know the credit to our success must be shared with the whole community. At the same time, I believe that it is imperative that we focus our resources now to attract and empower the next generation of filmmakers, photographers, podcasters, and creatives at large. We want to align our values and energy to really focus on tomorrow,” explains Kaveh Farnam, co-founder of Advanced Media.
In 2021, AMT founded a department of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with a mandate to pay it forward, build lasting partnerships, and serve as an example for small and medium enterprises towards realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in recognition and pursuit of the UAE’s commitment to sustainability and tolerance. Since its inception, the CSR department has signed agreements with several sustainable waste management companies, eliminated plastic bags and bottles from its premises, cut ties with logistics and procurement companies lacking clear CSR policies, and facilitated Advanced Media’s joining of the UAE Alliance for Climate Action (UACA) as the first and only SME. Additionally, AMT partnered with the SAE Institute in Dubai to empower aspiring filmmakers with the financial support of a total sum of Dh50,000 every year to deserving students.
These new initiatives and activations are the cornerstone of AMT’s new mission statements and visions of tomorrow. For instance, aligned with its continued efforts and ambitions to bolster the thriving film community in the UAE, Advanced Media launched CINESchool, an exclusive edition of the biannual digital community event curated specifically for university students pursuing a degree in filmmaking in collaboration with Prague Film School. CINESchool, the three-day workshops, seminars, and screening on October 11-13, attracted a diverse crowd of students handpicked by their instructors from the SAE Institute, Raindance Film School, University of Wollongong, Canadian University in Dubai, Amity University, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, and Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE. “We of course have huge plans for the future but a dream that we both share is founding an Advanced Media academy that offers a wide range of workshops and seminars. This is the reason why we started the concept of Cineschool and launched Cineseason in Saudi Arabia as our very first workshop series that was fully conducted in Arabic,” added Alaa Al Rantisi, co-founder
AMT’s commitment to developing, organising, and hosting training workshops, seminars and community events that educate, inform, and familiarise consumers with new equipment and the latest technological advances is an exceptional feature that sets it apart in the industry. Most notable of the events is the biannual digital cinema community event, commonly known as Cine. After inaugurating a remarkably successful edition in commemoration of the company’s 20th anniversary in March 2022, AMT will be returning in January 2024 from the 11th to 13th with CINETomorrow, as an interactive platform where the future of digital cinema will be showcased, sustainable practices in production will be discussed, and the exciting world of virtual production will be explored to keep abreast of the rapidly changing future and spirit of this exciting medium. CINETomorrow presents a unique opportunity for filmmakers and enthusiasts, visionaries and industry experts who are interested in digital cinema’s tomorrow to discover cutting-edge technology, address green cinema practices, and witness how virtual production is revolutionising storytelling.
