A day inside Egypt’s ‘Hollywood’ of the Arab world

“You are welcome to the headquarters of Arab world media production,” a smiling middle height lady, Ms Fasan Sherif, said as she ushered the 24 African journalists into the dominating edifice that sunny afternoon. This reporter was among the fellows selected from 24 African countries that attended the 50th Training Course for Young African Journalists […]

“You are welcome to the headquarters of Arab world media production,” a smiling middle height lady, Ms Fasan Sherif, said as she ushered the 24 African journalists into the dominating edifice that sunny afternoon.

This reporter was among the fellows selected from 24 African countries that attended the 50th Training Course for Young African Journalists organized by the Union of African Journalists (UAJ), in collaboration with Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation.

About 30 kilometres away from downtown Cairo and 10 kilometres from the great Giza Pyramids, lies the three million square metres Egyptian Media Production City (EMPC).

The media production city located on the 6th October City plateau on the Cairo-Alexandria highway, provided a serene environment that captures seven thousand years of Egyptian history.

The production city has the imprints of the Pharaohs together with the Greeks and the Romans, as well as those of the Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula, down to Muhammad Ali and Khedive Ismail who led the country into modernity.

“Given its heritage, Egypt can be likened to an open museum with monuments of the different historical periods on display everywhere. With the genius of time and place, the country stands the Arab world’s cultural beacon,” the EMPC PR executive said leading us to the tour of the multi-million dollar facility.

With this rich background of time, place and people, the idea of a media production city was born, she said. The EMPC was born “to bring Egypt’s genius out into works of art and drama and into other media forms, produced at a lesser cost, though with the same quality, if not better than at other places.”

The movie industry was launched in Cairo a hundred years ago, “that is why Egypt itself offers a spectacular range of potential locations as well as a long-established film heritage,” she said.

Media free zone

The EMPC was established under the umbrella of the Media Free Zone, providing dozens of advantages to investors interested in producing drama and other media forms.

On 24 February, 2000, a cabinet decree was adopted approving the creation of a free zone in the 6th October City. The EMPC is the major component of the media free zone, Ms Sherif explained.

The media free zone houses the Egyptian Media Production City, the Egyptian Satellite Company (NILEAST), Cable Network Egypt, the Nile Communications Network and various transmission centers plus 18 studios.

The zone includes cinema and television plateaus, satellite channels, digitally pressed and alternative radio and television broadcast systems; recreational and tourist areas; hotels and conference centres; adverts and marketing; among others.

The first thing that struck me when we were ushered into the edifice was the proposed but abandoned N3 billion “Kano Film Village” proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari about two years ago to promote the Kannywood movie industry.

The local Muslim clerics in Kano launched a coordinated campaign against the proposed film village on the premise that it will promote immortality. 

Though I don’t have details of what the Buhari administration envisaged for the Kano film village, the EMPC is run as a multimillion-dollar business, attracting investors and creating jobs.

The aim of the production city, according to our guide, is to promote Egypt as a growing and solid investment and business center for the implementation of international production projects, by creating an investment-friendly environment as well as offering all kinds of production services, labor and information, to be able to host all kinds of media productions.

The EMPC provides series of incentives to investors that included an unrestricted transfer of profits, funds, free zone imports are excluded from host country import regulations, project exports will not be subject to normal customs procedures.

The city comprises of 79 studios equipped with up-to-the-minute digital equipment and lighting grid distributed in three complexes.

One of the studio complexes is the Mubarak International Studio built on 400, 000 square metres, where major series and soap operas are produced and broadcast on both local and satellite channels.

A studio in this complex has 18 plateaux ranging between 100- 900 metres. 

The EMPC is also supplied with state-of-the-art engineering equipment for its diverse spacious plateaus and for its technical support centres. 

It has the most advanced outdoor shooting equipment and the most skilled teams to man them. 

Another interesting aspect of the city is the presence of the International Academy for Media Sciences (IAMS).

It is an educational institute to provide the EMPC and Egyptian media at large with qualified graduates, well-trained to use the diverse media and art production tools.

It was observed that students of the academy are admitted from Egypt, Arab world as well as some African countries.

The Egyptian Satellite Company (NILESAT) is another joint-stock company operating under the Free Zone Law in 6th of October City, and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites.

NILESAT was established in 1996 to operate Egyptian satellites, associated ground control stations, and uplinking facilities. It has launched two satellites in the 7° West orbital neighborhood (Nilesat 101 and Nilesat 102) and launched its second-generation satellite, NILESAT 201 in August 2010.

In November 2013, NILEAST broadcasts around 700 TV channels, and over 100 digital radio channels uplinked either from Cairo, Dubai, Amman, Doha, Riyadh or Beirut and covering North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf Region. 

The satellite is equally popular in Nigeria, particularly with its nearly 76 percent of the TV channels are free to air, the remaining channels are encrypted.

Its viewership in the MENA region has shown steady growth, from 11 million households in 2003 to more than 43 million households in 2013. 

The EMPC is offering foreign production companies to rent its facilities and hire its services.

The facility has 21 new full HD cameras being used in shooting series and programs and in equipping some of the under-construction studios. 

The city has post-production workshop that includes a mechanical carpentry, accessories and furnishings, decoration carpentry, e.g. doors, windows, as well as metal works, wood works, upholstery, and drapes, and gypsum, foam and other formations.

The EMPC has an unmatched group of set decorators, set designers, painters and technicians, while specialized high-quality labour is also available in all fields at competitive rates, e.g. carpenters, painters, upholsters and others, Ms Sherif said.

Outdoor shooting areas  

This was done because details of many buildings and architectural styles have been lost in places linked to the country’s historical and political past. Overpopulation in some areas has also prevented the on-real-site shooting of drama production.       

“It’s, therefore, necessary for us at the EMPC to revisit the past and recreate it, paying as much attention as possible to details of the different building and lifestyles,” she said.

The city has 15 outdoor shooting areas, each representing a period in Egypt’s history. “In the design, care was given to the fact that facades may be changed to accommodate low-cost production needs,” the PR executive said.

The outdoor shooting areas include the Islamic area, rural area, pharaonic area, Alexandria area, popular district area, Emad e-din street, The garden city district, the House of Nation area, the historical areas, Bedouin and desert area, military area, magic land, among others.    

The Islamic area

The Islamic area is located on an area of 76,000 square meters, that includes various types of architectural styles of the Ottoman, Mamluk, among others. It provides special pictorial climate, in rehab history, where the forts and castles, and all features of antiquity leaving a large part of the area of the creative imagination of designers and directors to add interior and exterior decorations appropriate to meet all requirements dictated by their art. It comprises of princes palaces, shops, homes, coffee, way, diwan, Turkish bath, and the headquarters of Harun al-Rashid.

The Pharaonic area

This is the most beautifully built in all areas, covering some 165,000 square metres with only 10 percent of it currently used. It has magnificent buildings of various forms and colours.

It is a replica of Tell al-Amarna, the city built by Akhenaton and destroyed after his death by the priests of the Amon Temple.

It includes the avenue of sphinxes, the royal palaces, the seat of government, a bridge between the palaces, army strongholds and politicians’ houses, and the celebration area.

The rural area

This is built over an area of 723,000 square meters. It provides a natural rural environment for creative directors to make use of in their productions.

It provides a railroad station with different forms of both old and modern train locomotives, complete with signals and wooden platforms. It comprises of a canal, a bridge, a Mandara, where villagers usually receive their guests and different types of simple dwellings.

There were local coffee-shops, village houses, at the centre of which stands that of the village mayor. There is also a pigeon house, a mosque alongside with houses of the rich villagers and a cemetery.

While the Zefta area has a number of houses, a police station, a ginning mill, a post office and some shops; this is apart from swathes of land planted with different crops, where cows and other domestic animals graze.

The Alexandria area

This is spread over an area not less than 74,000 square meters, bearing replicas of both old and contemporary Alexandria. In the construction process, great care was given to the minute details of the 1940’s western building style prominent in parts of the city where the rich used to live. Oriental-styled houses are also present, which gives a true-to-life impression of Alexandria at that time.

The area also has a real-size replica of the Manshiya Square, and the Alexandria stock exchange.

The popular district’s area

The hara (the popular or rather the populous alley) has a very special appeal to television and cinema producers, the guide said.

“That is why the EMPC has visited and recreated the day-to-day aspects of life in hara.

The area spreads over 68,000 square metres, where hara, both in the past and at present is reproduced. A true-to-life representation of the Gamaliya district (old Cairo) also stands in existence,” she added.

The House of Nation

This is Egypt’s well-renowned leader Saad Zaghloul’s palace, where people from all walks of life used to meet during the 1919 revolution. Because of its historical significance, the EMPC has built a true-to-life representation of it, paying great attention to details of style and decoration.

The military area

A replica of a fortified checkpoint, part of the Barlev line that existed before the Egyptian army’s crossing of the canal during the October War 1973. It is an area suited to battle filming and allows for expansion to accommodate different military sets.

The coastal area

It is one of the most beautiful places to see in the EMPC. Covering some 73,000 square metres, dotted with two artificial lakes. The first lake measures 400 square metres, while the second is 600 square metres. Each of them has a sandy beach and a children’s swimming pool.

Littering the place are many rocks, artificial waterfalls, and floating cafeterias, which make it a top tourist attraction scene. There also stands a 100-seat restaurant, and several chalets, for day-use lease as well as for accommodating on-set cast.

The Bedouin and desert area

Covering an area of 206,000 square metres, it represents the desert and Bedouin environment, with tents, water wells, mountains, and valleys everywhere.

Only five percent of the overall area is currently in use and film producers have the opportunity to create their own sets to suit their own productions and artistic visions.

The jungle area

This area has a breath-taking view of the forest, where calm, simplicity and beauty can be found. Besides being a site for wildlife shooting, with the natural and artificial lights available, it is also the perfect place for directors seeking ideal forest locations, given its many trees and plants spread over some 74,000 square meters.

The Garden City district

Crowds in that famous downtown Cairo district have prevented in-location shooting of diverse drama productions, Ms Sherif said.

The many alterations introduced to its old building style have also urged the EMPC to revisit it and give its past a new lease of life.

The Emad el- Din Street

This stands a true-to-life representation of the street, famous for being the place where the arts of cinema and theatre were first born. It has also seen many of Egypt’s political and historical events.

The EMPC has reconstructed the entire street, enormously spacious as it is, with its four-storey buildings, in their diversely decorated styles, in only 59 days.

The old vehicles

The EMPC has a fleet of old branded vehicles dating back to 1919.  They include cars, fire engines, ambulances, military and police vehicles and motorcycles.

They are used according to the dramatic sequence in historic movies and series.

As the EMPC has an open museum for such a kind of vehicles, producers do not find any kind of difficulty in finding old models which are frequently used in documentaries, she said.

The Mosque

It was mainly built for praying but it can also be used in shooting religious programs, series, and movies. It is a replica of modern architectural mosques in high-class districts. It can also be used for internal and external shooting.

Complex A VIP Hall

The administrative headquarters of the EMPC company is often used in shooting as an entrance for prestigious companies, airports or banks. The building includes a number of highly-furnished offices and corridors plus a conference hall, a garage that is used in shooting action scenes, movies, and video clips.

The stadium area

The EMPC pays a lot of attention to sports activities practiced by its employees or the academy students.

For this reason, it has established an Olympic stadium of international athletic standards, in addition to a pentagonal court used in shooting sports programs, competitions and some of the series and movies.

By the end of our tour of the city, I was just thinking how the 853.9 billion ($5.1 billion) Nigerian movie industry which reportedly hit a record-breaking revenue of N1.72 trillion ($11 billion) in 2013, will look like if such city is established here.

The Nigerian film industry is the third most valuable film industry in the world, coming behind United States’ Hollywood and India’s Bollywood.  But its quality of movies is poor due to the lack of outdoor shooting facilities, technical know-how, advanced equipment and poor investment drive.

Nobody knows if the Buhari administration had the Egyptian Media Production City in mind when the now “rejected” Kano film village was envisaged.

What happened to the proposed Kano film village, seemed not to be Nigeria’s exclusive. An Egyptian journalist and film critic, Mohammed Sayed, told me that the EMPC was “occupied” by “Islamists” after the 2013 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, and brought Mohammed Morsi to power. It seems they have overcome that challenged now.