DUBAI: More than fifty delegates from not only cinema sector but other real estate big players, will be attending The MENA Cinema Forum 2018 – the first and only regional business conference on the cinema industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that will focus on the growth opportunities of the region’s cinema industry.
A number of key players from several industries, inspiring business leaders including Jamal Al Sharif, Chairman, Dubai Creative Clusters Authority, Bader Alzahrani, CEO, General Commission for Audiovisual Media, Mishal Al Hokair, Deputy CEO & GM of Entertainment, Alhokair Group, Rahul Bekal, Group Business Planning Manager, Al Tayer Group, Luke Verte, Managing Director, Fox Middle East, Yit-Ching Lee, VP – EMEA Distribution, Paramount, Mae Ghandour, Senior Marketing Manager – Studio & Media Distribution, Walt Disney Company, will lead interesting discussions on investment in cinema industry, current trends, future of the cinema industry in this region, strategic implementation on this industry and competitive operations, at the forthcoming MENA Cinema Forum, to be held at the Grand Hyatt Dubai from October 28 to 29.
The opening ceremony of the forum will begin with the keynote speeches by Leila Masinaei, Managing Director of GM Events and Chairman Jan Runge, Independent Advisor, Cinema Strategy and Implementation.
Renowned cinema industry experts such as Cameron Mitchell, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas, Ashish Shukla CEO of Cinepolis Gulf/Gulf Entertainment, Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, CEO of Novo Cinemas, Amer Bin Ahmed, CEO of Knauf, Middle East and India, Dr. Martin Berlin, Middle East Partner and Global Deals Real Estate Leader at PwC, Dr. Amr Ismail Hegazy, CEO of New Art Line For Media & Cinema Production, Rashed Al Osail, General Manger of Expansions, Cinepolis KSA and P. V. Sunil, Managing Director, Carnival Cinemas, will be the chief speakers at the forum emphasising on the future of cinema industry and how best strategies, constructions, materials will enrich the sector.
“We are proud to be the organiser of MENA Cinema Forum 2018. We expect it to be a benchmark cinema industry event for the region, which will help the stakeholders to understand the market pulse and connect the cinema industry on an annual basis in the MENA region.” Leila Masinaei, Managing Director of GM Events, organiser of the MENA Cinema Forum, says.
“MENA Cinema Forum will serve as a unique platform to promote investment in cinema sectors, fostering partnerships with different stakeholders of cinema, as well as provide a direct meeting point with the delegates. Top management of different stakeholder companies of cinema industry will attend the event to invest and to meet investors to discuss mutual cooperation.
“The forum will give great opportunities to the attendees, update them about latest trends in the cinema sector.”
The two-day forum will be covering several key topics with series of interactive presentations, interviews and discussions on regional investments on cinema industry, which will be facilitated by all the global experts. The important topic and highlight issues of conference comprise mainly of economic impact of the growing cinema market in the MENA region, the effect of the Saudi cinema market/expansion across the region and the industry, how can all stakeholders sync efforts to build a successful industry, how to design & construction of cinema theaters and current global trends in cinema industry.
Globally, the number of cinema screens has crossed 150,000 and in the MENA region, the number of cinema screens is expected to jump 38.4 percent as 500 new cinema screens to be set up, mainly in Saudi Arabia, according to research by PwC Middle East. The PwC research, which will be launched at the Forum next week, finds that box office revenues exceeded US$500 million (Dh1.83 billion) in the MENA region. This accounts to about 1.25 percent of global box office revenues of US$39.92 billion as recorded last year, up 3 percent from 2016. More than US$3.54 billion will go to investment in cinema screens across the Gulf which PwC expects will significantly boost the region’s cinema industry.
On the first day session, keynote presentations will focus on building state-of-the-art cinemas, delivering the best experience to ensure that the customer keeps coming back to the cinema, global cinema audience diversity, Saudi expansions, and design of world class cinemas. There will be series of panel discussions on overview of key critical elements in film distribution & exhibition supply chain and on Best material selection, fitout and technology selection of state-of-the-art Cinema structures and competitive operations. There will also be Knauf’s presentation, Twentieth Century Fox 2019 Slate Presentation, post event cocktail reception along with upcoming films teasers and content, live music and magic show.
Forum’s second day will focus on cinema content for the Arab world, essential acoustic design of modern cinemas: risk and reward, audio visuals and cinema technology, digital cinema and projection essentials, customer engagement and revenue management and the rise of ambient media as a marketing mix. The last day will end with the conference review by the chairman and Dolby Cinema showcase.
The eventful conference will be full of activities including awards, workshops, break-out meetings, party, site visits and major announcements. News Desk
