Beyond the Numbers: The Growing Cultural Cache Of the UAE’s Film Industry
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Beyond the Numbers: The Growing Cultural Cache of the UAE’s Film Industry
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By Naam Chakravorty, Gulf Region Analyst, Botho Emerging Markets Group
May 19, 2021
Emerging markets’ share of the global film industry is rapidly expanding. Despite Hollywood’s dominance, films produced in countries like India, Egypt, and South Korea are now elevating the visibility of their diverse cultures on the global stage. This recent rise has been a long time coming. Since the 1950s, the Indian film industry has been the country’s most powerful cultural ambassador. Indian films, such as the Academy Award winner Pather Panchali, Lagaan, and Dangal have made rich contributions to international discourse on gender and class. Similarly, the Egyptian film industry, which had its golden age from the 1950s to the 1970s, is now in a period of Renaissance. New age Egyptian cinema has garnered global attention with films, such as The Yacoubian Building, capturing the cultural and political identity of Egyptian society. Meanwhile, South Korea boasts the highest film attendance in the world, due to its sophisticated story-telling. The recent success of Oscar winner Parasite, a dark comedy highlighting class issues, spoke to a wide range of audiences globally. The film industry and the brand ambassadors they produce have helped these countries to position their culture, history, economy, and politics in an international context. The UAE film industry, albeit young, could follow a similar trajectory as it finds its voice.
The Emirati film industry is growing at a steady rate and currently represents 420 million euros to the local economy, but numbers only tell part of the story. In the last decade, the UAE has tried to attract international filmmakers to produce movies within its borders, using the allure of its unique landscape, strategic location, and favorable business environment as major incentives. However, the country has yet to fully leverage the film sector to project its national identity, similar to other emerging markets, like Egypt and India. By generating demand for culturally specific yet relatable stories, the UAE can paint its cultural portrait on the big screen while creating a viable and sustainable creative ecosystem.
Although the UAE film industry has produced more than 60 locally-shot films, few have garnered global attention and distribution. Prior to 2004 and the initiation of the Dubai International Film Festival, few Emirati films were produced and showcased in theatres. This began to change in 2008, when the state-owned organization, Image Nation, was established to increase investments in international and local film production. However, international uptake of local films has remained low. For example, the 2013 Image Nations-produced film ‘Djinn’ did not achieve box office success. Despite being directed by veteran Hollywood director, Tobe Hooper, reviews fell flat. Film critic Ronan Doyle of Indiewire said, “Djinn represents, in the end, a fundamental failure to capitalize on the chance for a particularly culturally-rooted new breed of horror film… this was never to be the first horror movie, but the first Emirati horror, the first effort in the genre to tap the nation’s considerable mythological resources for an interesting new twist on well-worn tropes.” Nonetheless, despite negative reviews by critics, the film performed well locally and is one of the few widely released Emirati productions. Though the UAE’s film industry has been growing steadily in the past two decades with more than 7000 films, TV, and media output produced in Dubai only, film production and infrastructure development continues to outpace the art of storytelling. This may also be due to the fact that, as a result of being outnumbered by expats, UAE residents have become more inward-looking, with a lack of cultural interaction and minimal professional touchpoints. Djinn, despite the fact that the film is an Emirati story, only featured one Emirati actor in a major role.
On the production side, the UAE has continuously invested in state-of-the-art facilities while offering its scenic deserts and urban cityscape as a visual backdrop to international filmmakers. Government organizations, such as the Abu Dhabi Film Commission (ADFC) and Dubai Film & TV Commission (DFTC), were set up to boost the film industry’s impact on tourism, job creation, infrastructure, and financial services. These organizations have successfully created a regulatory environment that expedites permits and licenses to attract filmmakers to the region. For example, robust technological and infrastructural hubs, such as the Dubai Studio City, offer a serious competitive edge over their regional contemporaries. Dubai Studio City aims to be a growth engine for the creative economy by not only nurturing local talent but also attracting global players to invest in the region.
While the regional potential was previously stunted by lack of funding, this is set to change due to the level of profitability and global popularity that quality films can garner. Until 2015, initiatives like Sanad and the Arab Fund for Art and Culture were funding regional creatives, but limited to US$500,000 annually. However, a new group of investors is pouring funding into the country’s film sector: Fortress Film Clinic, a joint venture between Egyptian production house, Film Clinic, and Dubai-based private equity fund, Fortress Capital Investments Group, hopes to improve Arab filmmaking and produce more than 5 films a year. In 2016, Image Nation announced that it would invest ~US$108 Million in the local film and TV industry, while the Abu Dhabi Film Commission offered a 30% rebate to attract global and local content creators. Meanwhile, accelerators, such as twofour54, will continually focus on developing the local talent pool.
Even so, it is important to note that the UAE government has provided limited support to the film industry to date due to concerns about its alignment with the nation’s cultural values. For example, Sex and the City 2: The Movie, a film with a budget of US$95 million that was broadcast worldwide, was originally meant to be filmed in the UAE. However, it was rejected by the National Media Council of the UAE, and so ended up being produced in Morocco. Government support of the film industry is set to grow as personal freedoms expand. Last year, there were major amendments to the country's Islamic personal laws, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening alcohol restrictions, and criminalizing honor killings. The UAE has become more accepting of the regional realities that speak to an evolving cultural identity, which could lend itself to more relatable narratives for a global audience. Personal liberty must also extend to local students who wish to pursue filmmaking and acting as a career. For example, despite being conditioned to pursue academically oriented professions, Indians have overcome cultural barriers to pursue creative careers, with well-known Indian actors now emerging as strong contributors to the country’s investment ecosystem. In comparison, the UAE is yet to produce internationally popular film agents and 30% of Emirati parents versus 14% of Indian parents prefer traditional careers such as medicine. With the right support and local participation, the UAE film industry could cater to an audience of ~400 million Arabs in the Middle East.
Policymakers remain focused on reducing production costs and increasing technological offerings. However, the spotlight should really be on localised talent and content development. In the last decade, the UAE has prioritized cultural interventions that will translate into long-term artistic offerings. To develop a wider audience, the UAE should make room for cultural complexities and increased local participation in the country’s narrative, even as it focuses on the tangible elements of building its creative economy, infrastructure, and offerings. An evolving film culture underpinned by a healthy production infrastructure, consumed by a global audience, will create a sustainable ecosystem and a robust revenue stream for the UAE.
By Naam Chakravorty, Gulf Region Analyst, Botho Emerging Markets Group