Dubai: Hollywood's leading men have done shoots here, and many Bollywood stars have used the scenic locales as backdrops for their song and dance sequences. But that doesn't make for a vibrant movie industry that the UAE can call its own.
Until now, that is. Mohammad Al Otaiba, head of Image Nation Abu Dhabi, is working on rewriting the script accordingly.
The company's first film, Sea Shadow, is all set for a commercial release here and in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait from November 17. (A premiere is scheduled for the Abu Dhabi Film Festival on October 19.)
Marketing tie-ups
To ensure as wide a commercial release as possible, the producer has roped in Empire International for the Middle East and North Africa territory, and Fortissimo Films will take care of the marketing aspect from a global viewpoint.
With Mohammad Hassan Ahmad doing the writing, Emirati filmmaker Nawaf Al Janahi directed the coming-of-age film which tracks teenagers Mansour and Kaltham in their struggle to get past societal conventions and do their own thing.
Global appeal
"The film will appeal to people across all markets because of its simplicity. Although the movie takes place in the UAE and the cast are Emirati, the themes transcend boundaries, which is essentially the essence of a good film," said Al Otaiba.
"There is an abundance of acting talent throughout the UAE, which Image Nation is committed to discovering. To find the cast, we advertised through emiratifilmstar.com and received a great deal of interest from undiscovered actors and actresses.
"The process involved a number of casting sessions until we found the perfect talent for the roles, and ultimately secured a combination of fresh talent and famous Emirati actors."
The scripting works for Sea Shadow began in January last year and the shoot took place over a one-month period.
"Image Nation Abu Dhabi has managed to break the mould in this market though a commitment to supporting local filmmakers and developing a sustainable film industry in the region," said Al Otaiba.
"We have achieved this by forming a number of local, regional and international partnerships to facilitate the transfer of best-in-class expertise, allowing us to make films with Emirati content with regional and international appeal."
Empire International negotiated the theatrical run, and Image Nation Abu Dhabi is all set to begin a marketing campaign ahead of the release date. Getting a wide release in the local and Gulf cinemas "is obviously an enormous achievement for a home-grown movie and testament to the quality of the film, its production and the cast, and one that we are extremely proud of," Al Otaiba added.
What's in store
While keeping its fingers crossed concerning the audience reception for Sea Shadow, Image Nation Abu Dhabi is now fully tuned to the post-production work on its second feature, Djinn. One for the horror genre, it is scheduled for release next year.
"We always encourage film fans and professionals from the region to follow and connect with us on portals such as Twitter, Facebook and to keep checking our website for updates," said Mohammad Al Otaiba.
"We are constantly looking for talented writers, directors and people passionate about all aspects of film production. Image Nation Abu Dhabi is committed to developing the foundations of a flourishing film sector in the region, and identifying and growing local talent is a major part of this.
"In line with this objective, we will be announcing a series of initiatives over the coming weeks and months that aim to help us achieve this objective."
Overseas market
As it flexes its production muscles in the local filmmaking scene, Image Nation's overseas arm is doing quite well for itself. Two films - The Help and Contagion — featuring the company as the co-producer debuted in the top two spots at the US box-office last month.
As it flexes its production muscles in the local filmmaking scene, Image Nation overseas arm is doing quite well for itself. Two films - ‘The Help' and ‘Contagion' - in which it wears the co-producer's hat debuted in the top two spots at the US box-office last month.
