Four projects incubated under the programme will be developed into feature films.
Image Nation Abu Dhabi has announced the launch of the Screenlife Filmmaking Accelerator in the UAE, an initiative in collaboration with Hollywood filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov and his production company, Bazelevs.
The programme will run from September 26, 2024, to February 6, 2025, with a submission deadline of 12 pm on August 10, 2024, Abu Dhabi time. It is open to UAE nationals and residents with a background in filmmaking who are committed to fully participating in the project.
Applicants must submit their entries in English, including a synopsis, a logline specifying the genre and a showreel. The story should be set in the UAE and resonate with Emirati or regional audiences.
The programme aims to train and develop four projects from local talent using the Screenlife filmmaking format, where stories are told from a first-person perspective and the action unfolds entirely on computer and smartphone screens.
Screenlife is described as the visual language of digital filmmaking’s future, with the entire action set on digital device screens. The initiative’s mission is to establish the UAE as a hub for digital filmmaking in the region and to develop projects from local filmmakers into feature films.
The programme consists of four phases: Training, Development, Proof of Concept and Greenlight Session.
Participants will first undergo online training with Screenlife professionals. In the second phase, producers of Screenlife films will mentor projects to prepare a presentation deck, treatment, and budget for pitching to a panel of experts. Selected projects will proceed to the production of proof of concepts.
In the third phase, participants will produce POCs to help get their Screenlife film concepts greenlit. Finally, in the fourth phase, projects will be pitched to Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Timur Bekmambetov for a chance to be financed and produced into a feature film.
Through its partnership with Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Bazelevs intends to expand the popularity of screenlife films across the Middle East and add it to key film markets like South Korea, India and the UK, where the company has previously launched accelerator programmes and secured strategic partnerships for local movie productions in the screenlife format.
