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Making Movies in Middle East
With the Dubai and Middle East International Film Festivals and a flood of financing, the Middle East is quickly becoming Hollywood Way East
Dubai could very well be the largest construction site on Earth. Everywhere you travel in this so-called “Las Vegas of the Middle East,” towering cranes fill the arid desert skyline from one end of the city to the next, including the manmade, meticulously crafted “islands” that surround the oil-rich emirate. Construction occurs day and night, with workers from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts unknown bussed in from the trailers they occupy in de facto labor camps just outside the city.
The contrasts couldn’t be more striking. The city—which, these days, derives much of its economy from tourism—is designed to appeal to the moneyed and privileged, mostly from Europe and South Africa, since flights from the States can take a seemingly endless 28 hours. The signs of extreme wealth are everywhere, from the indoor ski slope where vacationing rich kids can snowboard in August, to the $400 Fendi sunglasses that young Arab girls have custom-made so the logos can be seen in the front rather than on the side, where they would be obscured by the hood of a pesky black burka.
Despite these contradictions, Dubai’s international profile continues to grow, thanks in part to events like the Dubai International Film Festival, which wrapped up in December after a successful two-week run that included gala screenings of Hollywood fare like Michael Clayton—complete with a visit from George Clooney—and obscure regional pictures like Lebanon’s Under the Bombs, which took home the fest’s Muhr Award for Best Film. In only its fourth edition, the DIFF is something of an anomaly in the festival world: With plenty of money to spend, the well-organized event has been able to achieve a level of global awareness of which most nascent film events can only dream.
There was much talk at the 2007 DIFF about how the round-the-clock construction in Dubai and neighboring Abu Dhabi—whose Middle East International Film Festival recently played host to Harvey Weinstein—provides an apt backdrop to a regional film industry that is literally being built from the ground up.
Indeed, recent high profile deals between deep-pocketed Arab investors and Hollywood majors confirm that the United Arab Emirates is taking the lead in transforming the Middle East into an entertainment epicenter.
In September, Warner Bros. announced an alliance with Abu Dhabi-based property developer ALDAR and Abu Dhabi Media Co. that will result in an estimated $1 billion going toward features, video games and infrastructure.
Exactly two months later, investment firm Dubai International Capital, which is overseen by Dubai ruler and UAE vice president Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, acquired a reported three percent stake in Sony Corporation. The total spend is estimated to be between $1 and $1.5 billion.
Elsewhere, Los Angeles-based production outfit Insomnia Media Group recently received a $550 million capital infusion from Egyptian asset management firm Borak Holding. Insomnia, which is currently shooting an untitled $70 million war epic in Egypt, Morocco and Los Angeles, is hoping to “continue its rapid growth and to find new and exciting projects to develop and bring to market,” according to a statement by chairman Bret Saxon.
So why is all this investment activity occurring now?
The prevailing wisdom says that the UAE, flush with cash from years of oil production, is attempting to rapidly diversify in preparation for when the black gold inevitably dries up.
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This story was published in the Spring 2008 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
Money and Movie Stars in The Middle East
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