Abu Dhabi’s Creative Media Authority (CMA) has partnered with FilmGate, one of the UAE’s leading independent, Emirati-owned and operated production houses, to establish a suite of benefits for the wider production industry in Abu Dhabi.
FilmGate will produce a minimum of 15 productions in Abu Dhabi over the next five years, which will employ 50 per cent of production talent from within the CMA’s ecosystem.
The partnership will also provide extensive learning and development benefits for the ecosystem including annual workshops hosted by FilmGate for the industry on specialist production topics, as well as four- to six-month paid internships every year for young Emirati talent – with a view to providing permanent employment opportunities to grow and nurture talent from within the UAE.
Mohamed Dobay, Acting Director-General of Creative Media Authority, said, “Establishing partnerships with local and regional production leaders is a key element of our industry development strategy to make Abu Dhabi a global content hub. Alongside attracting the major Hollywood and Bollywood productions, it is critical that we support and increase the Arab content produced in Abu Dhabi to ensure we are building an ecosystem where Emirati and wider Arab narratives can thrive.”
Dobay added, “The partnerships we are curating are designed to deliver unrivalled opportunities throughout the ecosystem, from employment for our 1000 plus registered freelancers to intern opportunities for our young creatives; these partnerships support on all levels.”
Founded by leading Emirati filmmaker Mansoor Al Yahbouni Al Dhaheri, FilmGate will also benefit from the recent update on the rebate offered by Abu Dhabi Film Commission where qualifying productions now can apply for cashback on production and post-production spend starting at 35 per cent up to 50 per cent based on meeting a clear set of criteria.
Mansoor Al Yahbouni Al Dhaheri, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of FilmGate, added, “It is a significant year for Abu Dhabi with the new rebate for production starting January 1 and a partnership of this nature with CMA will allow us to maximise all that Abu Dhabi offers in terms of filming locations, creative infrastructure, talent and financial support to produce more content than ever before.”
As a producer, director, writer, and, most notably, philanthropist Al Dhaheri has created content which has been screened at festivals across the world including at Abu Dhabi Film Festival, the Dubai International Film Festival and Gulf Film Festival.
Some of his award-winning and nominated projects include Al Biet Metwahid (Unified Home) (2013), Sarab.net (Mirage.net) (2012), Little Sparta (2016) and Swim 62 (2023).
Other more recent work includes the documentary Abu Dhabi success story (2024), TV series Dreams Drawn by Dust (2022), House of Life (2022), Scattered Barriers (2021), three seasons of The Platform and feature film The Misfits (2021).
As the CEO of FilmGate, Al Dhaheri leads a team of directors, scriptwriters, cameramen, video editors, animators, audio auditors and producers to create engaging and inspiring content from Abu Dhabi.
The FilmGate partnership is one of several partnerships CMA is establishing in order to provide further stimulus across the creative industries of Abu Dhabi, of which the production industry is key.
