Cairo: Mohamed Hefzy, the award winning Egyptian producer and director, and expert in Arab cinema industry, feels that the industry is still lacking a commercial approach, thus hampering its growth. He said that was a strong need for commercial mainstream productions targeting the wider Arab audiences, rather than making films for local markets.
Mohammed Hefzy said the Arab visual media industry was currently worth $2 billion, with TV commanding 95% share, while cinema is below 5% and digital stands at mere to 1%.
Hefzy, a globally renowned film maker, lamented that cinema and TV industry is still in infancy in the Gulf but added that it was set for a growth of over 30% in 5 years’ time; however, he cautioned that the sector was still not mature enough as far as production budgets are concerned, including big productions like movies, and many of them were making losses.
Hefzy called for regulating, streamlining and professionalizing the entertainment production industry in the region. He said the industry has huge untapped potential, as there is an audience of nearly 300 million hankering for good world-class entertainment.
“More investments are needed in Arab entertainment sector to enable the players to raise the bar. Direct investment in this industry helps foster integrated partnerships between creative experts and cinema and TV production bodies, bringing the vibrancy and breadth of the arts in the Arab world to life on screen in innovative ways. More inflow of investments could help this industry flourish by leaps and bounds in the Arab world,” Hamed Mokhtar, Managing Partner at Fortress Capital Investments, a leading investment firm operating in the Middle East, added.
“The streamlining, developing and professionalizing the industry is a must; it is equally important to take commercial aspects very seriously. Providing the right infrastructure, tools, facilities and funding and regulations to the industry as well as professionals’ training and development can result in raising the quality of productions. What is needed is a greater focus on educating people cinematically and culturally,” Hefzy said.
Co- producer of ‘Pyramid’ movie, Mohamed Hefzy has consistently delivered on excellence by creating original films that has been widely hailed by critics. Hefzy recently co-produced the British movie ‘My Brother the Devil’ which has already been internationally commended for its dramatic debut and also the UAE movie “A to B” that has kicked off the Abu Dhabi Film Festival last year.
He produced and written a number of films that have been recognized worldwide and won international awards.
Founded by Hefzy, Film Clinic has emerged as a leading production company in the MENA region, by producing unique feature films and documentaries that tell fascinating stories of people, places and philosophies.