twofour54 to showcase its 2010 projects

The twofour54 ibtikar creative lab showcases its 2010 projects at the Cine Royal at Khalidiyah Mall.

The twofour54 ibtikar creative lab showcased its 2010 projects yesterday at the Cine Royal at Khalidiyah Mall.

So far, the creative lab has completed 11 projects, with several more in late-stage discussions for investment and support.

Among the projects supported and financed by the creative lab are those by Khalifa al Rumaithi, Maitha al Mehairbi and Tarek al Houseini.

Mr al Rumaithi, a 22-year-old Emirati and a media student at Higher College of Technology, released his first music video, called Ana Emirati (I am Emirati) on National Day. Ms al Mehairbi, a 24-year-old Emirati who has a background in media studies, created Jerfah, an Arab-language web series with English subtitles. And Mr al Houseini, a 29-year-old Saudi, wrote and starred in his first television sitcom Take Away.

Ibtikar has also helped more than 50 people develop careers in the media industry, with the numbers expected to grow significantly in 2011.

"Our mission is very much about how we establish a centre of excellence for Arabic content creation in the region," said Wayne Borg, the chief operating officer for twofour54. "A place where the creative community can come together and feel comfortable and confident and supported in what they do, be that producing films, creating television, music videos, digital content, publishing, animation, gaming, all those fields."

In the two years that twofour54 has been operational, it has worked with 100 companies across the media spectrum, and employed more than 1,000 people.

"Creative lab has a very exciting mission in purpose, which is to give creative people and entrepreneurs the finance and support they need in their creative project that they're passionate about, or businesses that they believe in," said Gideon Simeloff, the head of ibtikar.

"We aim to bring out the talent they have, bring out the ideas they have, raise their skills, and bring their ideas to life. And we bring them together to form a community to support each other."