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bq | SMB+ENTREPRENEURSHIP | INNOVATION FILMS

QATAR

IN THE WINGS
Qatars film industry finds innovation in limitations
By Ira Pavaki, Doha

In Qatar, theres a small but growing number of people committed to

pushing beyond hobby filmmaking.
Leading that pack is Innovation
Films. bq magazine sits down with
its CEO Bassam Yousef Al Ibrahim to
understand the institutional, financial and cultural limitations faced by
the young crop.
Innovation Films, a spin-off of
an eponymous technology company, was started by Khaled Al Jabr,
Ahmed Al Baker and Mohammed
Al Hammadi. A year and half into
setting up the film business, Al Ibrahim joined them as first an executive director and then as its CEO.
The team comprises a core of 15
members, and large network drawing from the talent pool from local
universities including Northwestern
University in Qatar (NU-Q) and Virginia Commonwealth University in
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Qatar (VCUQatar).
At the beginning the company
wanted to make films alone. Thats
when the new CEOs business
sensibilities kicked in. Making
films is good, thats your passion,
but we need to keep the business
alive, Al Ibrahim told the partners.
We needed to sustain ourselves.
We cant be living on handouts. To
drive the passion and the growth
we needed to split the organisational structure to the filmmaking
we love; and a division that made
corporate films, advertisements and
campaigns.
It wasnt quick and took a while to
convince people who are creative how
to continue to run a business. Over
time they accepted that this is the right
thing to do. But it has to be done properly. I didnt want to hold their hands
behind their back, tie them down.

How do you differentiate yourself while maintaining that balance between the two streams of
business?
Ours is a purely Qatari company.
Which means, its run and owned
by Qataris; the talent in front and
behind the camera are purely Qatari;
or local residents. We try to thrive off
these people. The plethora of talent
in Qatar is unimaginable. I was
shocked by the number of people
who came with ideas and the kind of
ideas. You get kids, 18 or 19, coming
into the office with a script. And its
amazing. They really think big.
How do you then run a professional
set-up with amateurs?
What we tell them is, This is fantastic. You need to fix it. Thats pretty
much what it is. For me, the people
who set up this company the

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bq | SMB+ENTREPRENEURSHIP | INNOVATION FILMS

creative concept of it my brother

(Mohammed Al Ibrahim) and
Ahmed, I didn't want their talent to
be lost. Sooner or later they want to
move on to bigger projects. So we
set up bootcamps. Directing 101,
producing 101, scriptwriting 101
They would lead the daily training at
these bootcamps.
For the first bootcamp, the
participants were handpicked. The
intention is to open it up to more
people. We want people to do films
properly. Its randomly done now,
they dont know how to do films
properly. We want to share our
learnings, our trials and tribulations.
There are those with ideas and
passion, but without the knowledge
to execute it, so we bring them in
and give them that training. For me
it is a win-win situation. Each one of
the students is to write a film. And
everybody takes turns in a different
role making that one film. So you
have a script idea, then you become
my DoP and then the director.
Everybody gets a turn at making all
the films. And end of the day I get
10 short films that I can release, I can
produce, take to film festivals. Last
Ajyal, we released one of these films,
Qurar (means decision), a zombie
film. It was a short film, very well
made. The whole team put in a lot
of effort into this. We are finalising
another four films now. That just
needs post-production work.
What you are describing, isnt this
what DFI is supposed to do? Why a
private entity?
The DFI platform is meant to support the local filmmaking industry.
And in the past I feel they havent
been able to do that. Now they are
getting on the right path with new
management, new leadership.
Especially Qumra, it took a completely new turn. It didn't take the
same standard festival process: You
premier films, bring international
talent, and it becomes a hullabaloo
of celebrity. Now its about learning.
I had the opportunity to attend a lot
of classes.
How did you and others in the
industry benefit with Qumra?

I am hoping DFI would

do this and show the local
industry that this is how
you are supposed to help
and set up a local production company

What happened to those who didnt

have the experience and support
like your company did?
I think thats what allowed us to
flourish a bit more. Filmmakers
would go to DFI first, and then often
would come to us right after. We
would help them out, whether or not
we fund their project. Why dont
you join us on our next production.
Be our DoP. Or be an editor or one
of the camera guys. Get them into
the experience of making a film,
first. Then they handle their own.
The ones who are really passionate would hang on, and we would
make their film. We just made a film
with a young Qatari NU-Q graduate Amal Al Muftah. Its a beautiful
film. She came in with the idea and
is really leading the film. She is hardcore. Those are the kind of people
we like to work with and support.
For any entrepreneur like myself,
its about getting the right people to
come in; if they can handle the first
obstacles and come through they can
handle the rest.

How many takers did they have for

this kind of activity?
Youd be shocked at the number
of people who turned up. A lot. I
believe this years Qumra was very
good. Previously DFI had worked
with us on multiple occasions, and
they reach the 70 percent mark
but they dont hit fruition with us.
Unfortunately. And theyve done
that to a lot of other young Qatari
filmmakers.

Where do you get your funding

from?
In the beginning it was purely selffinanced. It was all personal investment from the board. After a while,
as we split the business in two, we
started to make money from our
corporate films and advertisements.
Thats supporting our business as we
go along. Thank God, as a company
the films that we make, as soon as
theyre complete we let them move

This year it was about teaching me

how to take care of the business
side of things sales and distribution, legal co-production and so on.
Industry professionals teaching you
the ABCs of the trade. Something
informative for me as a business
person in a company like this. They
also expect you to come to Qumra
with a project. Give them the script,
synopsis, idea, concept, and then
they let you sit down with the
experts in the genre. They help you
with the script, co-production of the
film, they help you with finding the
right connections. Now it goes to a
different level. You are no longer just
a creative individual. You now have
a product to sell.

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around the festival circuit. We have

won at multiple festivals and we get
grant money, grant permissions. Just
a few days ago we won the silver
award at the Al Reyada entrepreneurship awards (launched by the
Social Development Centre.) A nice
cheque to go with it to support some
of our films.
Youve diversified film interests
for over a year now, how has the
market responded?
It is very competitive. A lot of the
local companies have expatriates in
them. They give it an international
flavour. The market now doesnt
want that, they want a local flavour.
That essence of whats truly Qatari.
And only Qataris can give that. We

have done projects with HMC, Qatar

Museums, Qatar Foundation and
we are specifically asked that it has
to be done by Qataris. We get the
best Qatari directors around. There
was a very prestigious project for
Qatar National Museum and we
hired my brother Mohammed. He
was the right person for the role.
The documentary is really fantastic.
Its about Sadu (traditional Qatari
weaving) and will be shown at the
museum once its open. Its done in
such a way that you know the person
behind the camera is Qatari, and that
he understands it.
Does that mean theres no space for
non-Qatari players?
Not at all. We are all about

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bq | SMB+ENTREPRENEURSHIP | INNOVATION FILMS

collaboration. We are not trying to

take over the market. We are more
than happy to work with our competitors. Because we dont want the
big players to come in and eat up the
whole pie.
Do you work with competition?
Yes. All the time. We work with Resolution, Ginger Camel, Filmhouse
they are not just people we work
with, they are our friends. This is
the nice thing if I need a camera
I would borrow from them; if they
need some Qatari crew we would
share ours; its done in such a way,
Ive got your back and youve got
mine. We support each other. Thats
one of the things about this industry. With a lot of other industries in

We are more than happy

to sit down with QDB or
whoever and show that if
you invest this money, this
is how it would be used,
and this what youd get
Qatar its massive competition. This?
No we have to work together to
survive, to be honest. The creative
guys are good with this kind of collaboration. When it gets into business its different.
Is there a support mechanism for
the industry?
In terms of infrastructure and

collaterals. You often hear of teams

and equipment being brought in
from Dubai for instance.
In a perfect world, the actual platform is DFI. Thats why DFI was
created; to support the local film
industry. But the local film industry
cannot be built overnight. It has to
grow over time, blend into the environment. That doesnt mean I want
to create a film industry and hand
out money. Take cinemas. Is there
a platform to go see short films? It
only happens during the film festivals. Why cant this be a regular
feature. Even in the existing cinemas
its about socialising not about just
watching the film. Where as in other
parts of the world there is a separate space for avant-garde films. I

want to be able to watch older films,

classics
This is a big money business, do
banks and financial institutions get
this business?
Oh, no.
Whats the biggest challenge?
We never pursued a bank actively.
The only institution we have
approached was Qatar Development Bank.
We got into a massive project.
See, the intention of Innovation
Films was to make a full-fledged
commercial film. In English, with
A-list talent. We had signed on two
Hollywood actors, went through

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SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and contracts it was a learning experience

for all of us. It was written by Ahmed
and an American friend. It was titled
In Search of Adam. We had a crew
from South Africa doing the production designs. We had a line producer
from the UK. We got a lot of external
support from our local connections.
For finance. We approached QDB
and asked them if they would like to
be on board with this film.
They went, What exactly is it that you
are making?
Well, we are making a film.
How do you quantify that in money?
It is content.
It has to be something we can
touch, feel.
I am sitting there trying to
explain this project. And it didnt
click. So I thought if QDB, thats
supposed to help SMEs didnt get
it, I dont think I am going to get far
with anyone else. For that project we
had some funding, but it didn't go
through, and we have put it aside for
now. It something we still want to do
in the future, hopefully.
Going forward how do you think
you are going to educate the financial sector? It would be difficult to
take on big projects otherwise.
I agree. I am hoping DFI would do this
and show the local industry that this is
how you are supposed to help and set
up a local production company.
DFI doing this would still be a
quasi-governmental support.
Shouldnt it be more organic, more
dynamic?
Sure. We havent reached that level
yet. We are more than happy to sit
down with QDB or whoever and
show that if you invest this money,
this is how it would be used, and this
what youd get.
We had done all that was
required for that project, made connections with producers abroad. We
were there, 95 percent, just needed
that 5 percent support. We are
already involved in that educational
effort. Of course we are doing it on
the fly. And thats not enough.

A workshop in progress

Are you able to have that conversation with DFI?

Yes, with the new management.
Theyve really done a turn around
for us. They love the fact that we are
a local team, local talent. Hopefully,
in time, this would turn into a more
interesting friendship. Ahmed and
Mohammed work with them a lot,
the relationship is already there.
Not just as a business, even with
the community as viewers, local
filmmaking is viewed as a hobby not
as a career. Thats a problem.
Thats true even in our culture
unfortunately. Take Ahmed as an
example. He went through hell
trying to convince his family. He is
an engineer by trade and academics. He gave all that up to follow his
dream and passion. Same with my
brother. I think now they are catching on to the fact that filmmaking is
a job; but its also a job where people
totally love what they do.
What are the opportunities for
someone like you to have this as a
day job?
For the time being its not possible.
This (current job) is my cash cow.
There is a growing vacuum in the
region with the hit film industries
in Egypt and Syria have taken. Do

you see regional collaboration?

I dont think my job here is done yet
for me to go regional. We have been
approached by Dubai or Abu Dhabi
film festivals for grants. We tend to
turn them down.
Why?
We would prefer our films be
funded locally to appreciate the local
creative talent they are investing in.
But there are Emirati filmmakers
funded by DFI. Why does it matter?
Exactly. I am trying to prove a point.
Whats your idea of success for
Innovation.
Making money off films. Feature
films.
Box office sales?
Yes.
How far off is that ideal?
The only thing thats holding us back
is finances.
Three things that would make it
less difficult for you?
Easy support for businesses.
Peoples mindset towards
filmmaking.
More opportunity to see avant-garde
and local films.
JUNE 2015