In the olden days, securing funding for your film would have meant buttering up wealthy benefactors to persuade them to write you a cheque.
These days, crowd-funding websites are replacing the cap in hand approach as ways to get the cash to produce your own film.
They work by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people. And now the Middle East has its own dedicated platform - Aflamnah.
This morning at the Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi Film Festival hosted a seminar to explain how the website works and how both filmmakers and those who want to fund films can get involved.
The website's founders Lotfi Bencheikh and Vida Rizq revealed their tips as to how to make a project attractive to investors. Also on the panel was Nawaf Al Janahi, the Emirati-Egyptian director of Sea Shadow, who is a keen supporter of Aflammah.
"You need to make your [pitch] as exciting and inspiring as possible," explains Rizq. "Rather than ask for money, you invite people to be part of your project."
For more information about crowd-funding visit www.aflamnah.com
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
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THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
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Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
