UAE Movie Studio Sets Up Shop in Las Vegas
UAE Movie Studio Sets Up Shop in Las Vegas. An Emirati movie studio has taken the big leap and expanded its operations into the United States. Producers hope the venture will not only tap into the lucrative North American markets, but will also serve as a source of national pride and identity with the Arab characters portrayed in the new productions. Experience Media Studios, which calls itself a next generation global entertainment company, opened its doors in February 2009 in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Just a year later it has set up an office in Las Vegas, NV. “North America accounts for more than a third of the worldwide box office, so this strategic investment is a logical next step for Experience Media Studios,” studio CEO Michael-Ryan Fletchall said in a statement. The studio has been producing regionally themed films and television shows for international audiences. Fletchall said that the new U.S. branch aimed to leverage relationships “with top-tire talent, distribution, and Middle East capital to acquire, package and produce high quality, cost effective entertainment media for U.S., Canada and worldwide audiences.” In December 2009 the studio announced its plans for an action-adventure feature film called “Abdulla Omar and the Lost Sand City.” It will feature renowned Emirati archaeologist and adventurer, Abdulla Omar, in his quest for a city hidden under the desert sands. Creating the first Emirati action hero will boost national identity, a company statement said. The announcement of the studio’s move came as the first English-language feature film produced in the UAE began global distribution. Titled “City of Life,” the film reveals the complexity of the city of Dubai and features a variety of characters such as a spoiled young Emirati man, a European stewardess and an Indian taxi driver. “With the release City of Life there is more interest in the region as a (filming) location,” Daniel Kilalea, production manager with Boomtown Productions, an international production company with offices in Dubai and Britain, told The Media Line.“The Abu Dhabi film commission is pushing the local film market as production location and it just hosted location scouts,” he said. “There is still a lot of growth to be done but we will see more features and 3-D movies [in the future].” Dubai-based director and producer Rajeev Kheror told the Media Line he was upbeat about the state of the local film industry. He added that this year’s Gulf Film Festival in Dubai was particularly successful. “It is definitely coming of age,” Kheror said. “The number of entries has improved. There have been many good films.” He said 111 films from the Gulf region alone were being screened and they ranged from feature films to documentaries, short films and animations. “Right now, short films and documentaries are in the majority. A lot of the films are student documentaries, which is encouraging because it is not a very mature industry,” Kheror said. “There will be more feature films in the future.” That said, both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have come under criticism for not living up to their portrayal as liberal and open-minded cities. Recently, the production of “Sex and the City 2,” which features the main characters traveling to the Gulf, had to relocate their filming to Morocco after the United Arab Emirates banned shooting due to the risqué content of the script.
