Barajoun Entertainment, Shahid Outline Ambitious Plans For Arabic-Language Animation
Arabic streaming platform Shahid is collaborating with Dubai-based animation and vfx studio Barajoun Entertainment on a slate of new Arabic-language originals.
All five productions will be available exclusively under the Shahid Originals categories on Shahid VIP, the streamer’s premium subscription service, and will launch across the next three years.
According to the companies, the goal of their collaboration is to grow and promote original Arabic animation. They also want to champion diverse stories that can work not only in local Arabic-language markets, but around the world and provide a platform to mentor and support up-and-coming animators and content creators from the region.
Details on the five projects are scant, but we do know the first collaboration between them is planned to hit the Shahid VIP streaming service this July. Based on a not-yet-announced science fiction novel, the production will feature the voice of a well-known Arab actor which the companies will announce closer to the date of release.
Of the collaboration, Tareq Al-Ibrahim, director of MBC1, MBC Drama, and Shahid VIP Content, explained, “We are extremely excited to be partnering with Barajoun Entertainment, the region’s pioneers in the animation industry. One of our missions has always been to tell the diverse and varied stories of the region to the rest of the world, conveying our great heritage, civilizations, cultures, and lifestyles to viewers everywhere.”
Barajoun Entertainment founder and producer Ayman Jamal added: “This is an important move that encourages the development of the overall animation industry in the region. At Barajoun, we support the process and production of content that is unique and purposeful, created to the highest technical and technological standards. With Shahid being the world’s leading Arabic streaming platform, I am looking forward to seeing this collaboration contribute towards the development of more Saudi and Arab talent working in the fields of writing, graphic design, modelling and animation, as well as performance and voice acting – all specialties of this vital industry that attract viewers from across the world.”
Jamal established Barajoun in 2011 with the aim of turning it into a major Middle East producer of cg character animation and vfx. There, he produced 2015’s Bilal: A New Breed of Hero, the first cg-animated feature produced in United Arab Emirates.
