Image Nation sign Dh1.1bn movie deal with Chinese production organisation

Mohamed Al Mubarak, the chairman of Abu Dhabi-based Image Nation. Delores Johnson / The National

Abu Dhabi production company Image Nation yesterday announced a long-term partnership with one of China’s biggest production organisations, The China Intercontinental Communication Center, in a deal that promises to boost the local film industry.

A US$300 million (Dh1.1 billion) international film fund, The Culture China – Image Nation Content Fund, has been set up to invest in commercial film and television from Hollywood, China and other countries.

The seven-year initiative has an initial investment of $100m, with equal shares committed by Image Nation and CICC, and will seek other partners in China in return for limited partnership interests.

Image Nation chairman Mohamed Al Mubarak says the relationship between China and the UAE is a significant link.

“This is something we take very seriously,” he says. “We want to strengthen our relationship with China on health care, energy too – the potential is massive.”

Al Mubarak was impressed by what he saw during a recent visit to China.

“The speed at which they are growing is unbelievable,” he says. “We went there to seek partnerships, and we could have come back with many partnerships.

“We are going to create movies and films telling great stories and send the right messages. We are starting an industry that will flourish in the next 10 or 15 years – movies that speak to the Arab world and that speak to the world.”

Profits from Image Nation's successful international co-production investments – including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), the Help (2011), Men in Black 3 (2012) and The Hundred Foot Journey (2014) – have allowed the organisation to fund and subsidise local productions.

So although not all films planned through the new fund will be set or filmed in the UAE, Image Nation’s chief executive Michael Garin says the new partnership will “absolutely” result in new jobs being created in Abu Dhabi’s film industry.

“Profits from these funds will subsidise what we do in terms of local production,” he says. “Here in Abu Dhabi, its particularly important because the principal reason for investment from outside is to subsidise our local activities. We are still in the process of building a film industry that’s self-sustaining – we are five years off that target.”

CICC and TV channel Quest Arabiya will also team up to produce programmes in Arabic about Silk Road regions, both past and present. The first is Usilk, which will be broadcast on Quest Arabiya in January.

Moving forward, the collaboration will expand to include co-produced original content.

Garin says he also expects “exciting announcements” to be made soon about upcoming Image Nation films.

So does this new partnership mean Hong Kong actor and filmmaker Jackie Chan will be paying another trip to the UAE soon, after shooting Kung Fu Yoga here in 2015? The film is due for release early next year. "We met with many companies during our first visit to China, and one was Jackie Chan's production company," says Garin. "He does love the UAE, so we will try."

An Emirati-Chinese movie is already in the planning, though Garin says it could take some time before it comes to fruition.

“But we will begin seeking those types of movies almost immediately,” he adds. Hollywood has been attempting to break into the Chinese market for several years, with limited success – but Garin has high hopes that Image Nation will have more luck.

“Their model doesn’t work very well, and now Hollywood realises when they make films that will work in China, they need real Chinese partners,” he says.

“That’s what we hope to do, because working with CICC, we operate above the industry in a sense. Our relationship with CICC gives us the opportunity to work with everybody there.”