DIFF pioneers an industry revolution
Five years ago, Hollywood glitz, studio deals and film funds were all but ideas that needed scripting to achieve the UAE's celluloid dreams.
However, the launch of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in 2004 set in motion a chain of events that has led to the country's organic film industry sharing the spotlight with world cinema's biggest names. Sunday will see the announcement of Emirati filmmaker Ali Mostafa's latest venture – a full-length feature starring top English and Indian actors.
But over the next week, as DIFF rolls out the carpet for celeb glamour, Chairman Abdulhamid Juma hasn't forgotten his mission to build a local movie industry.
"In 2004, we had a dream. By 2013, we will have a reality that no respecting film industry will deny." The festival, which runs until December 18, unspooled last night amid a glittering opening ceremony, complete with stars and industry powerhouses. But even as the country's favourable public profile roped in the A-listers, the fate of the country's aspiring filmmakers is a question that still demands answers.
"A film industry needs several pillars to cement its foundation, and a film festival is just one of them," said Juma "The other pillars include proper infrastructure, educational avenues for young talent to grow, government support, proper distribution channels and film funding.
"I don't believe we can say a film industry exists until all fall into place. Some of them, like Dubai Studio City's Location Approval Services (LAS) that facilitate indoor and outdoor shooting form the basis of a desired infrastructure."
The man reigning over DSC's 22 million sq ft complex – with 14 sound stages and a 3.5m sq ft backlot for outdoor filming, pre-production facilities and built-in studios – is Executive Director Jamal Al Sharif, an enterprising mind who believes the dawn of a new film industry in the UAE has arrived.
"Dubai offers a range of benefits for prospective partners including being a safe destination, logistical advantages and a 100 per cent tax free environment," he said. "The enhanced ease of operation that LAS provides has proved popular in the industry, registering a growth of 123 per cent in film permit applications in 2007."
That adds up to more than 650 shoots within a year and this figure can only grow, he said.
And as Sharif confirmed DSC's deal with a major anonymous Hollywood studio, he also shattered any misconceptions that Emirati filmmakers were getting the raw end of the deal in the race for the stars, as Mostafa's project takes centrestage at DIFF.
Critics, however, say that one film does not make an industry, and point to further possibilities: "What about bringing in film schools that will help discover the next generation of filmmakers and fine-tune their skills? All we have is the New York and Manhattan film academies," said a UAE-based filmmaker on the condition of anonymity.
Juma agreed: "We won't have an industry until we have a place known to every UAE filmmaker, which allows them to take a script and a production plan and ask for funding. Abu Dhabi has taken a step forward by announcing their film fund."
The capital took a page out of DIFF's book and launched the Middle East International Film Festival last year. But rather than limiting itself to a 10-day celebration of cinema, it laid the first stone of a long-term infrastructure by brokering deals with Hollywood studios that look set to cross the Dh6.5 billion mark.
Last year alone saw Warner Bros Entertainment setting up a film and video game production firm with Aldar Properties and the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC); the partners announced a $500 million (Dh1.836bn) joint venture fund to develop films here.
A year later, they have reportedly announced Shorts, a family adventure film by director Robert Rodriguez, starring William Macy.
But the buck certainly doesn't stop there. Earlier this year, the government-owned ADMC announced a fund of over $1bn to be spent over the next five years making feature-length films in partnership with three US producers.
Imagenation, a subsidiary of ADMC, has also partnered with Hollywood-based Hyde Park Entertainment in a $250m deal to develop, produce and distribute feature films.
The agreement aims to create up to 20 films over seven years and will include additional financing for the production of local language and cross-cultural films.
Hyde Park Entertainment will also establish its regional headquarters at the free media zone in the capital.
And if this wasn't incentive enough, Hydra Properties' head, Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, sweetened the deal by announcing another film fund.
But the question remains, where does this leave Emirati filmmakers?
At a recent showcase of Emirati shorts, director-producer Nayla Al Khaja said: "We can't be negative, because the infrastructure is still very young. But now, initiatives like the Emirates Film Competition, DIFF and the Gulf Film Festival are baby steps towards a bigger picture."