DUBAI // The Middle East's answer to the film powerhouses of the US and India may be rising in Dubai.
Dubai Studio City (DSC), a 22 million square foot facility, is the result of a Dh1.5 billion (US$400 million) investment announced in 2005 as an extension of Dubai Media City.
While Media City was running out of space, Tecom Investment, the owners, saw the potential to develop more TV and filmmaking space.
Since then, 59 film and television companies have moved into the studios, based in a sprawling complex by Arabian Ranches about 15 minutes from Media City.
When it is finished next year, the facility will offer the region's biggest indoor studios, meaning the UAE's long hot summers will not stand in the way of productions.
The indoor studios are big "enough to build a small city", said Jamal al Sharif, managing director of DSC and Dubai Media City. Two 18-by-16-metres long, 4.5 meters deep tanks are also planned for underwater filming.
Mr Sharif said he can currently provide a full crew for one international film, but does not have enough people to run concurrent projects. That is a problem he hopes to rectify in coming years.
"In time, we want to be able to have everyone here on hand, to keep business running from local talent," he said. "People coming here want to know you have skilled staff like cameramen, cinematographers and scriptwriters, so you have to develop local business before you go international."
The children's show Freej, now a hit animation series across the region, was launched in Media City. The series, based on the lives of four Emirati grandmothers, embodies the sort of entrepreneurial spirit Mr Sharif hopes will continue at DSC.
The studios are also the first port of call for scriptwriters who wish to film in the emirate.
Mr Sharif said they receive about 15 scripts a week from around the world, from Bollywood to Hollywood.
It was DSC and its associated body, Location Approval Services, that greenlit George Clooney's Syriana to shoot in the emirate and helped with scouting locations while DSC was being built. They also had a hand in rejecting other scripts, such as the upcoming Sex and the City 2, last month's Matt Damon Iraq war movie Green Zone and Ridley Scott's 2008 thriller Body of Lies.
About 95 per cent of submitted scripts are approved, having been deemed not harmful to UAE culture, religion or politics, and have the "right product" with the "right message", said Mr al Sharif.
MTV, Nickelodeon, Indi TV and Summit TV, from India and Pakistan, are among the companies occupying DSC studios. Another, Al Dafrah TV, is producing news and current affairs shows in the only HD facility in the country.
mswan@thenational.ae
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FIXTURES
New Zealand v France, second Test
Saturday, 12.35pm (UAE)
Auckland, New Zealand
South Africa v Wales
Sunday, 12.40am (UAE), San Juan, Argentina
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
SCHEDULE FOR SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - from 4pm (UAE time)
Angelique Kerber (1) v Irina Falconi
Martin Klizan v Novak Djokovic (2)
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Roger Federer (3)
Court One - from 4pm
Milos Raonic (6) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Evgeniya Rodina
Dominic Thiem (8) v Vasek Pospisil
Court Two - from 2.30pm
Juan Martin Del Potro (29) v Thanasi Kokkinakis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Jelena Jankovic
Jeremy Chardy v Tomas Berdych (11)
Ons Jabeur v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)