Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s film industry is expected to grow over the next few years, with plans to turn the country into a global film hub, according to Paul Baker, executive director of film and television services at twofour54 intaj.
In an interview with Gulf News, Baker said the UAE was very well-positioned to become a hub for filmmakers coming from Hollywood to Arab Cinema and Bollywood. “I want us to get to a position where we have a thriving indigenous industry, and we are a hub for regional Arabic productions because that only serves to help us grow the local industry. We also want to attract big, high-profile productions here,” he said.
Baker cited the hosting of Expo 2020 as a way of assuring the global film industry about the development of the UAE’s infrastructure.
The UAE has already attracted film sets from blockbusters such as Fast and Furious 7, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, and Syriana, among others, as twofour54 works on attracting more to the country.
“Attracting those films here really help us inject adrenalin into the pace in which we grow because we have the best in the world coming here, producing here, and we’re putting our best alongside them to really give them the opportunity to learn,” he said.
According to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, for every Dh1 that twofour54 invests into bringing film sets to the UAE, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) gets Dh4.5. This is through direct methods alone such as hotels, airline tickets, and dining outlets, among others that the cast and crew use.
It does not take into consideration the indirect impact on tourism in terms of attracting more people to the country.
Another PwC report forecasted that Abu Dhabi will see an additional 300,000 tourists a year by 2020 just from the awareness that films set.
“There [are] a number of impacts of having international shows here. There’s a tourism element, there’s a GDP contribution, and then there’s the impact on growing the local production industry, which is the prime focus of why we exist,” Baker said.
In addition to attracting more film sets, twofour54 is working on encouraging the production of Arabic dramas, which are popular among Arab households especially during the month of Ramadan.
“Our primary strength in the region is we see a lot of dramas. What I would like to do is work hard on how we can transfer some of those skill sets and some of those producers to start thinking about working in the feature sector,” he said.
The Abu Dhabi Film Commission, powered by twofour54, offers a rebate of up to 30 per cent for production companies bringing part of all of their film into Abu Dhabi.
