News

Netflix To Give 5 Arab Female Filmmakers A $250,000 Grant

This is AFAC’s second collaboration with Netflix, and it aligns perfectly with its mission to promote diversity of voices and narratives.

Published

10 months ago

April 23, 2022

David Morelo

In 2021, Netflix set up its Fund for Creative Equity to create more opportunities for people from underrepresented communities. Now, the subscription streaming service and production company is partnering with the Lebanon-based Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) to offer a $250,000 grant to 5 Arab female filmmakers.

“The Fund for Creative Equity helps the industry as a whole to have a much more dynamic, interesting, multidimensional representation of women, and this is one step in the journey to enabling more women to tell their stories and have new audiences discover their work”, said Nuha El Tayeb, Director Content Acquisitions, Middle East, and Turkey at Netflix.

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The one-off grant will go to five projects across the MENA region:

The Mother Of All Lies by Asmae El Moudir (Morocco): A documentary focusing on the 1981 Bread Riots in Morocco and its impact on the director’s family and contemporary society.
My Name Is Clara by Sarra Abidi (Tunisia): A story of a call center operator named Ayda, who is living an ordinary and repetitive life.
Manity by Tania El Khoury (Lebanon): An examination of the relationship between an 11-year-old son and his father as they go bird hunting.
The Day Vladimir Died by Jana Wehbe (Lebanon): A story of an old man who spends his time checking the obituaries page and attending funerals.
From The Other Shore by Diala Kachmar (Lebanon): A movie about two handicapped friends who navigate life together.

This is AFAC’s second collaboration with Netflix, and it aligns perfectly with its mission to promote diversity of voices and narratives. “More and more Arab female filmmakers are creating moving images that have the power to shed light on the realities of the region,” said Rima Mismar, AFAC’s current Executive Director.

News

World’s Largest Metaverse Developer Opens Dubai Office

LandVault, the largest metaverse creator, is expanding its presence into the MENA region.

Published

5 hours ago

February 8, 2023

Nour Nasir

world's largest metaverse developer opens dubai office

LandVault, the world’s largest metaverse developer, will expand operations to Dubai later this month as part of an ongoing strategy to boost its presence in the MENA region. The company aims to help local businesses gain a foothold in the expanding web 3.0 universe and sees exciting opportunities to bolster its client portfolio.

So far, metaverse developer LandVault has lived up to its name, creating and curating over 100 square feet of virtual space for a diverse range of organizations, including the nearby Yas Marina Circuit, Aldar, Mastercard, Standard Chartered, World of Women, Hershey’s, and many more.

The Dubai government’s Metaverse Strategy is one of the key reasons LandVault has been inspired to move to the region, as leaders plan to transform the Emirate into one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies by 2030. Eventually, it’s hoped that in excess of 1,000 companies in the blockchain and web 3.0 spaces will be inspired to set up entities in the region, creating around 40,000 new jobs in the process.

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“We are excited to open our office in Dubai and to be a part of the vibrant tech community in the UAE. The MENA region is a key market for us, and we believe that our presence in Dubai will allow us to assist the region and explore new opportunities. We are also excited about the potential for the metaverse in the real estate industry in the UAE. We look forward to working with developers and real estate companies to showcase their properties in a new and innovative way,” says Sam Huber, CEO of LandVault.

Alongside developing the metaverse from its new Dubai office, LandVault will also deploy its technology to assist the UAE’s real estate sector. Developers will soon be able to showcase their projects in a way that was never previously possible, reaching a much wider audience with immersive and interactive property tours and even virtual showrooms.