Middle East & North Africa

Middle East & North Africa

FESTIVALS: 'Sheikh Jackson' To Open El Gouna Film Festival

Amr Salama’s Sheikh Jackson has been selected as the opening film of the inaugural edition of the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.

Middle East & North Africa

Starz Play Arabia Eyes Expansion Beyond MENA Region

Dubai-based streamer is eyeing Eastern Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Middle East & North Africa

HEADLINES FROM ASIA: Amazon, Okja, YuppTV & Alibaba

Amazon unveils first India original, Netflix's Okja shut out of Korean cinemas, plus latest news from Alibaba, YuppTV, Youku and iQiyi.

Africa

iflix To Launch In 23 Countries In Sub-Saharan Africa

Kuala Lumpur-based streaming service iflix is continuing its march across emerging markets with a launch in 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Middle East & North Africa

Netflix Teams With O3 Medya On First Turkish Series

Netflix is moving into the production of Turkish-language content with a 10-episode series co-produced with Istanbul-based O3 Medya.

Middle East & North Africa

Asia’s Original Content Wars Heat Up

While Netflix and Amazon are pouring investment into local-language content across Asia, several regional platforms are entering the fray with a slew of announcements in recent months.

Middle East & North Africa

FESTIVALS: Focus Asia Unveils Inaugural Line-up

Focus Asia, the genre-themed co-production market of Udine’s Far East Film Festival, has unveiled its inaugural selection of 13 projects.

Middle East & North Africa

Middle East OTT Heats Up With Viu Launch

Competition in the OTT space in the Middle East is intensifying with PCCW’s Viu becoming the latest platform to roll out across the region.

Middle East & North Africa

iflix, Zain Form Joint Venture To Launch MENA Service

Southeast Asian SVOD platform iflix has formed a joint venture with Kuwait-based mobile operator Zain to launch its services across the MENA region.

Middle East & North Africa

FilmDoo Scoops Up Slate Of 19 Asian Titles

UK-based streaming platform FilmDoo has acquired TVOD rights to 19 Asian films from distributors including Asian Shadows and Stardust Pictures.

Middle East & North Africa

FilmDoo Co-Founder Weerada Sucharitkul On Creating A Global Film Community

During the research phase before the official launch of UK-based streaming platform FilmDoo, co-founders Weerada Sucharitkul and William Page came across an interesting statistic. Just over 12% of the UK population said they would be interested in watching independent films, or films from outside their own culture, at

Middle East & North Africa

Tencent Acquires Majority Stake In Supercell

Following weeks of speculation, Chinese digital titan Tencent has bought a majority stake in Finnish mobile gaming company Supercell from Japan’s Softbank for $8.6bn.

Middle East & North Africa

Arab Telemedia Launches Content On iTunes

Jordanian production company Arab Telemedia is launching 44 of its movies and TV series on the iTunes Store, including Emmy-winning drama The Invasion.

Middle East & North Africa

INTERVIEW: MoviePigs Founder, Perihan Abou-Zeid

The founder of New York-based SVOD platform MoviePigs talks about building a global audience for Arabic-language films.

Middle East & North Africa

MoviePigs Launches US Platform For Arab Cinema

New York-based start-up MoviePigs is launching an SVOD platform focused on Arab cinema for audiences in North America.

Middle East & North Africa

Traditional Windows Holding Back Middle East VOD

VOD platforms have the potential to expand the audience for Arabic-language content, but traditional business models are preventing local producers from unlocking their full value.

Middle East & North Africa

Middle East Rides OTT Wave - PwC Report

Growth in over-the-top (OTT) television services and other digital platforms is set to have a huge impact on content production in the Arab world, according to PwC report Beyond Digital.

Middle East & North Africa

Starz Play Arabia Seals Content Deal With CBS

Starz Play Arabia, the new OTT streaming service for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has signed a multi-year licensing deal with US network CBS Studios International to bring CBS and Showtime content to the region.