With growing expert crews, eye-watering tax incentives and staggering locations, the Middle East is currently a bubbling cauldron of activity for film shoots. From Hollywood blockbusters like Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” to regional epics like “Hajjan,” productions are making the most of the geographical diversity of the sprawling region while film commissions and studios offer a series of benefits to attract shoots to an increasingly competitive area.
Head of the Abu Dhabi Film Commission Sameer Al Jaberi highlights how the team was “on location for less than a week” for the first “Dune,” but returned for nearly a month for the sequel. Epic Films founder Robbie McAree—a local producer for Villeneuve’s latest in Abu Dhabi—adds that such films “leave a lasting legacy, providing hands-on experience to local crew, who then apply [it] to future projects. It’s a cycle that strengthens the industry and inspires other big-budget films to consider shooting here.”
While for many years Morocco, Egypt and Jordan were the main destinations in the region, other countries have grown exponentially in the last decade, notably the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Saudi is home to two fast-growing media hubs, Film AlUla and Neom, the latter of which hosted Abu Bakr Shawky’s coming-of-age adventure “Hajjan,” shot along Saudi’s Red Sea coast in Tabuk.
“Saudi Arabia is where all eyes are at at the moment because of their impetus to foster a film industry and create a major international filming destination in the region. From my experience of shooting in Tabuk as well as other places in the kingdom, I think the country is really ready for major productions,” Mohamed Hefzy, one of the leading producers in the Arab world and the founder of Egypt’s Film Clinic, says.
“It was just smooth. I cannot express how incredible the talent in the region is. Even if the Saudi market still has growing up to do, you can always find talent in Lebanon, UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait… Talent exists,” former line producer with Neom Mann Ghanem says of his experience with “Hajjan.”
“At Neom, we had a policy where you had to get a minimum of six young Saudi interns throughout a project. Some of them have now gone on to produce their films and work on other sets, which is incredible,” Ghanem adds.
Combining the expertise of more experienced national industries with the funding and desire for rapid growth of emerging countries has proven a solid approach for Arab producers. “Jordan has the best location managers and producers and Saudi is making the most of Jordanian talents,” Alaa Karkouti, CEO and co-founder of MAD Solutions, says.
One such producer is veteran Rula Nasser of The Imaginarium Films, who reiterates how vital it is for Arab productions to be shot in the Arab world and by professionals who understand regional differences. “It’s not only the locations, there are so many elements. You can’t have an extra who’s an Arab and get someone who is European or has issues with the accent.”
Local film commissions in the region are also pushing to have their countries represented faithfully in cinema. “If films can show Jordan for Jordan as part of their narrative, there is an additional rebate,” the director of the Jordanian Royal Film Commission Mohannad Al-Bakri says. But, of course, there are also great joys in seeing Jordan stand for fictional lands on the big screen, with Arrakis being one of them. “At the credits of [‘Dune: Part Two’], you’ll see a Jordanian crew unit and the name of the Jordanian people who worked in the film. We are very, very proud of this.”
