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FOCUS ON UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 49
A
Sun, cameras,
THE EMIRATES
HAS BEEN A
FAVOURED PLACE
FOR VISITING
FILM-MAKERS FOR
A NUMBER OF
YEARS. BUT NOW,
MORE AND MORE
OF THEM ARE
DECIDING TO STAY
Don Productions’ Kanebo
TV commercial
shoot for TCJ of Japan
BOASTING about 350 days of government made efforts to Mubadala, the investment arm
sunshine a year, a relatively low develop the UAE as a media
DONALD HARDING
of the Abu Dhabi government,
cost base and well developed hub and once we realised the
infrastructure was in place we
THERE IS A LOGIC IN THE
which has interests in many
infrastructure, the United Arab
were keen to move in.»
Tim Smythe established Film-
UAE’S LOCATION BETWEEN
large companies such as ship-
Emirates has long been a building, aircraft-making, GE
favoured location for film and
works in Dubai in 1998 while
ZONES, IN TERMS OF TIME
and Ferrari. It has also been
TVC shoots. working with Curious Australia
But the cavalcade of visiting his brother Anthony set up and Formul8 of Singapore on
crews is becoming more static: Filmquip Media, which pro-
AND LOCATION
a large commercial for the UAE’s
top producers are now basing vides equipment, lighting, rig- huge new Meydan horse rac-
themselves in the UAE and lo- ging and crews for a wide range ing track, with a four-day shoot
cal talent is emerging, as evi- of international film and tele- ing pot that Dubai is” in hav- that has yet to really make waves and three months’ post-pro-
denced by the recent establish- visions productions. ing three storylines — Arabic, in the region. The market is duction in Australia.
ment of the Abu Dhabi Film While TVCs are “bread and Hindi and European. “The out- still locked into TV but that Chewing Gum, an ad Boom-
Commission and Middle East butter” for Filmworks, it has look for the region looks very doesn’t mean we can’t integrate town did for Lowe Dubai’s
International Film Festival, as become renowned for its work good, we have plenty of shoots campaigns on multiple medi- MTV AIDS awareness cam-
well as the Dubai Lynx festival on Hollywood movies, work- happening in Dubai, Beirut ums which include viral con- paign, has won several awards
and awards. As Shane Martin ing with Universal in Abu Dhabi and Doha over the next cou- tent and mobile downloads. including Gold at the Dubai
of Boomtown Productions puts on The Kingdom, and in Dubai ple of months. We are in the We’d like to sit down with any- Lynx Festival, and is contention
it: “For a long time people with Warner Bros. on Syriana, process of opening in Abu Dhabi one here to discuss the oppor- at Cannes.
looked at the Middle East as a says Michael Wright, the com- and feel the city has a bright tunities that branded or char- “We’ve done quite a lot of
cash cow — if they looked at pany’s marketing research man- future for content creation. acter content can provide FMCG work for brands such
it as anything at all — known ager. “I’d like to see more facilita- clients.” as Pizza Hut and Chlorox, sim-
for its big corporate budgets Since then it has worked on tion jobs come in from other Martin, too, says business is ple one-day shoots, which seems
rather than interesting work, City Of Life, the first feature to parts of the world, as there are booming in the region, although to be our staple. There are three
but that is changing.” be financed within the UAE fantastic locations here, from the global downturn has halted main production centres in the
Donald Harding says of his and first to have a local writer/di- cityscapes to desert dunes, and growth. “The local advertis- Middle East — Dubai, Lebanon
decision four years ago to set rector, Ali F Mostafa. “We are sunshine all year round. ing industry has been growing and Cairo — but Dubai is by
up Don Productions in the re- one of the major producers be- “Finally, we are actively look- 35-40% a year in recent years far the most modern.
gion: “There is a certain logic cause of our experience in hav- ing into branded content with and production has grown the “With the downturn of busi-
in the UAE’s location between ing worked with two major Hol- some of our clients, which I same.” ness in the UK, so many direc-
zones, both in terms of time lywood studios,” Wright says. believe to be one of the key Boomtown recently com- tors, cameramen and techni-
and geographical location. The City Of Life reflects “the melt- turning points in advertising pleted a seven-day shoot for cians are coming out here, there
THURSDAY 25
TH
JUNE 2009
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