Dubai: A television drama series adapted from the poems of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is left with two more stages to complete.
The 30-episode series, Abwab Al Ghaim Arabic for Doors of Cloud, will be aired on Dubai Media Inc's TV channels by Ramadan.
Adapted from the imagination and poetry of Shaikh Mohammad, the series successfully completed shooting of the final scenes which were shot in the Marrakesh deserts.
Now the series will have to pass two more stages, at the suburbs of Damascus and Palmyra deserts. This would fulfil all the four required stages for the show, which is a Bedouin drama produced by the Dubai Government Media Office (DGMO) as a gift for all Arab families during Ramadan. The series revolve around the Bedouin, their relation to their land, traditions and social life.
It focuses on the development of life in the Arabian Peninsula by highlighting the fate of a number of personalities who lived in a shaky period, which witnessed the presence of various powers such as the Turks and Englishmen and how they affected lives then.
Locations
The set for the second stage of Doors of Cloud in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh saw the participation and involvement of 50 actors, 1,000 extras, 200 camels and 200 professionally-trained warhorses.
They were featured in two battle scenes, which were shot on three locations in Marrakesh and Sidi Bou Outhmane, two locations that had their share of cinema and film shootings in the past five years.
Doors of Cloud director Hatem Ali had completed the first stage of the TV series in the Al Marmoum deserts of Dubai in early March, before eventually moving to the second stage in the deserts of Marrakesh.
Ali said that Doors of Cloud is a different Bedouin series than the previously shown ones.
He lauded the immense efforts of the DMGO to create an entertaining show, both artistically and intellectually.
Ali noted that the show also made use of Spanish-bred horses which were prominent during the combat scenes that portray a vital point in the 19th century, reflecting the way of life among Arab tribes.
He praised the amazing contribution of the stuntmen and Ricardo Cruz, a professional and specialist in open combat whose work includes The Last Samurai and Kingdom of Heaven. He said the equipment being used to shoot Doors of Cloud is the best in the region, and matches the international standards of quality and clarity used by popular TV shows.
Refined acting
Doors of Cloud is produced by the DGMO. It seeks to once again continue with the pure humanitarian conventions of previous works adapted from Shaikh Mohammad's imagination and poetry.
The DGMO followed through with this vision by creating dramatic television shows that embrace Arab family viewing, by employing refined acting performances that delivers these modern humanitarian aspects. This vision first came to fruition with the Battle on the Sands series, which was aired last Ramadan.
