RIYADH — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is keen to diversify and enrich the entertainment experience in line with the Saudi Vision 2030. The Kingdom is organizing the entertainment sector and providing entertainment options for all segments of society in all regions of the Kingdom. In addition, efforts are in place to enhance the private sector contribution to entertainment activities, with the aim of diversifying the economy, raising the GDP growth rate, supporting the SMEs and increasing the FDI levels to help in creation of jobs within the entertainment sector, particularly in filmmaking industry, following the recent cinema openings across the kingdom. Art Format Lab, a Saudi company with international business, is contributing to the development of the entertainment and filmmaking industry in the kingdom, in line with the vision. The company is specialized in creating Arabic content to be produced to the highest international standards and distributed locally, regionally and globally. Art Format Lab develops all types of programs, including talk shows, documentary films, drama and feature films Khulud Abu Homos, chairwoman of Art Format Lab, with 25 years experience in regional and international content creation and media production, said: "Today we are developing formats for various genres of programs, including talk shows, documentaries, drama and films. We are committed to produce innovative Arabic content based on a positive social message which has an international appeal, by focusing on a selection of international program formats from Hollywood, Europe and Asia, which are suitable to be adapted and reproduced in Arabic." Abu Homos added that the Art Format Lab was established in 2017 for production of Arabic content of internationally competitive quality. The company develops Arab content in the region in partnership with various studios in Hollywood, such as Universal Studios, Fox, Sony among others and is nurturing local filmmaking talents with the aim of developing the filmmaking industry in the Gulf region. Dr Mustafa Alaidaroos, CEO of Art Format Lab, said that Entertainment Experience, for which Art Format Lab owns the exclusive rights to implement in the Arab World in collaboration with FCCE, is a one of its kind project that aims to attract and cultivate talents to develop a filmmaking talent pool in the region. It is one of the major projects of Art Format Lab. The Entertainment Experience is an adaptation of an Emmy awarded Dutch project that was implemented in South Africa, China, Turkey and currently in the UK. Abu Homos said that Art Format Lab attracts the most successful and influential international initiatives and transfers the experiences in filmmaking industry to the local community. "Entertainment Experience is not a production project, but rather an educational one which aims to develop an integrated filmmaking community for networking and exchange of experiences." Alaidaroos said that Art Format Lab is in the process of producing Mukhtar, the first Saudi film to be shot in the KSA, Egypt and Italy, with the company seeking to expand in film production. The idea of the film revolves around a Saudi explorer who runs a famous travel channel on YouTube narrating an exciting story of one country on every episode, until the YouTuber completes 99 stories, with only one story remaining in his "100 Stories with Gharib" series. He meets different people from different religions and races to produce the 100th story. The film celebrates the dialogue and coexistence with different religions and aims to convey the right image of the Saudi modern young gentlemen who call for moderation and tolerance with others. It is a Saudi film in terms of production, idea, script, music and acting."
