Dubai-based Front Row Productions has acquired all rights to the story of Sally Hafez, the young woman who, in order to pay for her sister’s cancer treatment, walked into a Beirut bank and used a toy gun to take money from her savings account which had been locked due to Lebanon’s financial crisis.
Front Row Productions – which is a joint venture between prominent Mena region distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Beirut-based Empire Entertainment – is planning to explore different aspects of the Hafez story “through feature films, TV series, docuseries and a podcast series.” They will look at “the various angles of Sally’s unique but relatable journey from a patriotic activist to a disenfranchised citizen taking it upon herself to be divisive,” the company said in a statement.
Starting in 2019, as the country fell into a deep economic crisis involving the downfall of its currency, Lebanon...
Front Row Productions – which is a joint venture between prominent Mena region distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Beirut-based Empire Entertainment – is planning to explore different aspects of the Hafez story “through feature films, TV series, docuseries and a podcast series.” They will look at “the various angles of Sally’s unique but relatable journey from a patriotic activist to a disenfranchised citizen taking it upon herself to be divisive,” the company said in a statement.
Starting in 2019, as the country fell into a deep economic crisis involving the downfall of its currency, Lebanon...
- 4/4/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Dubai-based Front Row Productions is planning a feature film and TV series based around Sally Hafez, a Lebanese woman who received international attention after storming a bank in 2022.
The company has acquired life rights from Hafez, who held staff hostage at the Blom Bank in Beirut on September 14, 2022, and demanded they allow her to withdraw her own savings to pay for her sister’s medical bills. The incident took place during a financial crisis in Lebanon that saw citizens illegally restricted from withdrawing from their accounts due to an unofficial capital control imposed by banks in the country.
In a statement,...
The company has acquired life rights from Hafez, who held staff hostage at the Blom Bank in Beirut on September 14, 2022, and demanded they allow her to withdraw her own savings to pay for her sister’s medical bills. The incident took place during a financial crisis in Lebanon that saw citizens illegally restricted from withdrawing from their accounts due to an unofficial capital control imposed by banks in the country.
In a statement,...
- 4/4/2024
- ScreenDaily
Netflix has unveiled the highlights of its Original Arabic-language content for the Middle East and North Africa in 2024, with shows coming out of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan.
Fresh announcements included the second season of hit female-driven, Kuwaiti finance world drama The Exchange and a third season of unscripted show Dubai Bling, which Netflix promised would “delve deeper” into the lives of the existing characters and expand the “Dubai Bling family”.
Netflix also announced the arrival of Tunisia acting star Dhafer L’Abidine in the cast of the second season of Hend Sabry’s drama Finding Ola.
He joins Sabry in a cast also featuring Sawsan Badr, Hany Adel, Nada Moussa, Mahmoud El Leithy, Acel Ramzy, Omar Sherif, Yasmina El-Abd and Tarek el Ebiary.
In this new season, as the titular Ola’s business teeters on the edge of collapse, she discovers the need to reinvent herself and embarks...
Fresh announcements included the second season of hit female-driven, Kuwaiti finance world drama The Exchange and a third season of unscripted show Dubai Bling, which Netflix promised would “delve deeper” into the lives of the existing characters and expand the “Dubai Bling family”.
Netflix also announced the arrival of Tunisia acting star Dhafer L’Abidine in the cast of the second season of Hend Sabry’s drama Finding Ola.
He joins Sabry in a cast also featuring Sawsan Badr, Hany Adel, Nada Moussa, Mahmoud El Leithy, Acel Ramzy, Omar Sherif, Yasmina El-Abd and Tarek el Ebiary.
In this new season, as the titular Ola’s business teeters on the edge of collapse, she discovers the need to reinvent herself and embarks...
- 2/1/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
“This really is soup to nuts - everything when it comes to doing a production on the ground,” says Mbc Studios’s Christina Wayne.
Mbc Studios, the production arm of Middle East broadcaster Mbc Group, has started offering production services to films and TV shows looking to shoot in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh-based Mbc Studios Production is already working with two non-mbc films and a Korean TV series that are considering shooting in Saudi Arabia.
Given Saudi’s nascent industry, one of the key challenges for incoming productions is sourcing local talent and navigating legal, financial and business affairs. Productions looking...
Mbc Studios, the production arm of Middle East broadcaster Mbc Group, has started offering production services to films and TV shows looking to shoot in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh-based Mbc Studios Production is already working with two non-mbc films and a Korean TV series that are considering shooting in Saudi Arabia.
Given Saudi’s nascent industry, one of the key challenges for incoming productions is sourcing local talent and navigating legal, financial and business affairs. Productions looking...
- 12/6/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Filming is set to begin in spring 2024.
Dubai-based Front Row Productions has boarded Zaid Abu Hamdan’s Boomah, an upcoming Arab crime thriller starring Jordanian actress Rakeen Saad.
Front Row has joined forces with burgeoning Jordanian outfit Bounce Productions to make the feature, which is described as a “raw and unfiltered crime-thriller set in one of Jordan’s roughest cities”. The film is scheduled to start shooting in spring 2024 with a release to follow by early 2025.
Saad, who stars in Netflix hit AlRawabi School For Girls and Mbc Shahid’s The Giza Killer, will play the lead role of Boomah.
Dubai-based Front Row Productions has boarded Zaid Abu Hamdan’s Boomah, an upcoming Arab crime thriller starring Jordanian actress Rakeen Saad.
Front Row has joined forces with burgeoning Jordanian outfit Bounce Productions to make the feature, which is described as a “raw and unfiltered crime-thriller set in one of Jordan’s roughest cities”. The film is scheduled to start shooting in spring 2024 with a release to follow by early 2025.
Saad, who stars in Netflix hit AlRawabi School For Girls and Mbc Shahid’s The Giza Killer, will play the lead role of Boomah.
- 12/5/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Dubai-based Front Row Productions has come on board Jordanian director and producer Zaid Abu Hamdan’s second feature Boomah about a female street thug.
The company, a joint venture between Mena distributors Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment, is joining forces with Bounce Productions, the film and TV company created by producer Ahmad Abu Koush in 2022.
Boomah will be Abu Hamdan’s second feature after award-winning 2021 drama Daughters of Abdul-Rahman, which world premiered at the Cairo Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, and then played multiple festivals including the Red Sea Film Festival.
The production has also announced that Jordanian actress Rakeen Saad, who starred in Netflix show AlRawabi School for Girls and Mbc Shahid’s The Giza Killer, will play the lead role of Boomah.
Originally announced under the title The Zarqa Girl at the project stage, the production is a described as crime thriller set...
The company, a joint venture between Mena distributors Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment, is joining forces with Bounce Productions, the film and TV company created by producer Ahmad Abu Koush in 2022.
Boomah will be Abu Hamdan’s second feature after award-winning 2021 drama Daughters of Abdul-Rahman, which world premiered at the Cairo Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, and then played multiple festivals including the Red Sea Film Festival.
The production has also announced that Jordanian actress Rakeen Saad, who starred in Netflix show AlRawabi School for Girls and Mbc Shahid’s The Giza Killer, will play the lead role of Boomah.
Originally announced under the title The Zarqa Girl at the project stage, the production is a described as crime thriller set...
- 12/5/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Starzplay has announced its first Arabic-language original series, created in collaboration with Emirati content powerhouse Image Nation Abu Dhabi.
The international streaming service of Starz has a big following in the Middle East and North Africa where its regional offering Starzplay Arabia is available in 19 territories.
The new show, called Kaboos, features five standalone episodes and is billed as a modern-day retelling of Arab folklore. It explores urban legends in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and the UAE, across a variety of genres from classic horror stories to noir psychological thrillers.
Some of Mena’s hottest rising young directors are attached to the show, including the UAE’s Majid Al Ansari and Hana Kazim (Makr) as well as Iraq-born, Abu Dhabi-based Yasir Al Yasiri (122), Egypt’s Ahmed Khaled (30 March) and Bahraini, U.S.-based director and producer Hala Matar (Streetcar).
The horror anthology series is produced by Al Yasiri...
The international streaming service of Starz has a big following in the Middle East and North Africa where its regional offering Starzplay Arabia is available in 19 territories.
The new show, called Kaboos, features five standalone episodes and is billed as a modern-day retelling of Arab folklore. It explores urban legends in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and the UAE, across a variety of genres from classic horror stories to noir psychological thrillers.
Some of Mena’s hottest rising young directors are attached to the show, including the UAE’s Majid Al Ansari and Hana Kazim (Makr) as well as Iraq-born, Abu Dhabi-based Yasir Al Yasiri (122), Egypt’s Ahmed Khaled (30 March) and Bahraini, U.S.-based director and producer Hala Matar (Streetcar).
The horror anthology series is produced by Al Yasiri...
- 1/26/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The 1 min teaser for the new sci-fi drama, “Seam”, starring Oded Fehr (“The Mummy”, “24: Legacy”) and Rakeen Saad has been released: http://www.seamfilm.com/ The film was shot across the Middle East and China, in Arabic, Mandarin and English, and also stars Jordanian actress Rakeen Saad. The writer/directors are best known for producing international shoots for “Star Trek: Discovery”, “Heroes Reborn”, and “Master of None” among others. They co-own Master Key Films ( https://www.masterkeyfilms.com ), which is developing and producing a feature film for the project....
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- 8/28/2017
- Screen Anarchy
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