With the support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA), SMC Group has announced its role as the co-producer of the film Es’aaf, in collaboration with Blacklight and House of Comedy.
The film marks a major milestone in the history of Saudi cinema, as Es’aaf will be the first Arabic film to be presented in the IMAX format.
As co-producer, SMC played a pivotal role in attracting major commercial sponsors and creatively integrating brand placements within the film’s narrative, adding a new dimension to the cinematic experience.
“This partnership reflects SMC’s investment-driven vision to support Saudi cinema,” the group shared in a statement to Campaign Middle East.
SMC also emphasised that this achievement is in line with its ambition to be a strategic and impactful partner in the development of the Saudi film industry and to help elevate local content to global production standards.
Es’aaf is expected to deliver a highly immersive experience for audiences — through its compelling storytelling, visual aesthetics and advanced cinematic techniques.
SMC has also been active within the media, marketing, advertising and adtech space. More recently, SMC and Abu Dhabi-based investment holding company Multiply Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore collaboration opportunities in the adtech space.
The agreement outlined a framework to assess mutual investment in developing advanced adtech platforms, with a focus on AI-powered solutions, programmatic capabilities and data-driven advertising strategies. The partnership also reflected wider trends in the MENA advertising industry, where technological innovation and audience segmentation are becoming core to campaign delivery and measurement.
