‘Freej’ creator to launch new show

The creator and producer of Arabic cartoon series Freej will launch his new series Siraj (Lights) to coincide with the start of the academic year this September.

38-year-old Mohammad Saeed Hareb, a pioneer in 3D cartoon animation who shot to fame as the creator and producer of the animated UAE series Freej, has now decided to educate young minds in classical Arabic.

“In the new series we have deliberately deviated from the Khaleeji [Gulf] format and stuck to educating our target audience of kids between Grades 1 and 3 in the classical strain of Arabic,” Hareb told tabloid!.

“Inshallah the new series will start in September along with the start of the new academic year, and after the normal roll of 15 episodes we will revert to another segment of Freej,” he related.

“The main objective for coming up with Siraj is to engage young minds in learning our language in an engaging manner outside of school atmosphere,” Hareb explained.

The classical format of the language has been used to spread the appeal of the show to a larger target audience of all 22 Arab nations. “Most of the channels will be free to air. We just want it to go out first. The business plan is to make money later on the mobile apps, shows and merchandising, etc,” Hareb said.

“Basically, anyone with an open mind can learn Arabic, including adults,” he quipped.