On screen and on set: Entertainment offerings in Qatar vary from theatre shows to film and TV dramas

euronews (in English)

From backstage at a community theatre to on location for a commercial TV production, Qatar 365 explored several sides of the entertainment business - from those who produce it, to those who perform it.

Transcript

00:00There's an increase in interest in coming to produce and shoot in Qatar.

00:06It's early days, but you can definitely see the trend moving in an upward trend.

00:11We're celebrating 70 years of goofballery in the desert, really.

00:17Seventy years of Doha players putting on plays, doing music, creating a family of theater

00:24people in the desert.

00:28Hello, welcome to Qatar 365 with me, Adil Haleem.

00:33On this episode, we continue to explore entertainment options across the country.

00:38Yohanna Hoos went behind the scenes with Qatar's longest-running English theater group, the

00:42Doha Players, and I sat down with old-school R&B singer, Case, during his first visit to

00:48the region.

00:49But first, I went on location with Katara Studios, the ambitious production house set

00:54to be the audiovisual leader in the Middle East.

00:59This is a behind-the-scenes clip from one of Katara Studios' TV productions, a multilingual

01:04English and Arabic sci-fi fantasy series called Medina.

01:08Now, the Qatari film and music production house is scaling up its filmmaking and original

01:13Arabic content production with four feature films and two TV shows in the pipeline.

01:18Well, look, you have 450 million Arabic speakers in the MENA region.

01:22You have another 50 million that live internationally, the diaspora.

01:25So we have half a billion Arabic speakers, and we don't have nearly enough content for

01:31them, and especially not premium content.

01:34So we've really sort of entered the golden age of content creation for the Arabic-speaking

01:39world.

01:40They want to see the blockbusters.

01:41They want to see those drama TV series.

01:44So all of that currently is, you know, there's a race on at the moment, and the race is to

01:48create that content that's going to sort of satisfy that market, but also break through

01:52internationally.

01:53So that's the gap we're trying to fill right now.

01:56Hussein Fakhri believes Katara Studios will be able to produce those blockbuster films

02:01in the next three to five years.

02:03The full-service studio builds itself as a one-stop shop for premium content, from ideation

02:09to writing, development, production, and post-production.

02:13What's next?

02:14Develop more homegrown talent.

02:18We have some great talent here already, but there's not enough.

02:20We need a bigger pool of talent.

02:22There's definitely a bottleneck when it comes to writing and development for Arabic-language

02:25content.

02:26We need more writers.

02:28We need more developers.

02:29There's a shortage.

02:30This commercial production is one of many ways Katara Studios is diversifying its offering.

02:35After putting itself on the global entertainment map by producing the FIFA soundtrack and the

02:40opening and closing ceremonies of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the content studio is keeping

02:45the momentum going by producing feature films, TV series, docu-series, and even music videos.

02:53Cynthia Abu Khalil and her crew are in the midst of a four-day commercial shoot for a

02:57real estate company.

02:59Creating narratives and telling a story is a lifelong passion project for the executive

03:03producer.

03:04For me, I have been in love with commercials since I was a kid, so this is my passion,

03:10to be honest.

03:11I've been doing music videos, starting from the World Cup, Asian Cup, all of the above.

03:17So it was something that's nice as a twist because it's super fast, super interesting,

03:23super stressful, but it's the adrenaline rush.

03:27Cynthia believes Katara Studios is not just a production house, but a creative hub.

03:32And that creativity gets put to the test, whether it's always trying to find new filming

03:37locations or figuring out workarounds during Qatar's scorching summers.

03:42Challenges aside, she's seen more and more international brands look to Qatar, even well

03:47after the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

03:50People are coming to Qatar to film.

03:53People are here not because of the World Cup only.

03:56They saw Qatar and it has everything.

03:58You can do anything here.

04:00And the filming industry here also is growing.

04:03And it's beautiful to see that even after the World Cup, we saw an actual like growth

04:08in the media and people coming here, brands they want to come film here, like international

04:13brands, you know.

04:15You couldn't find that before.

04:16We are self-sufficient in terms of media.

04:22In the 90s and early 2000s, American R&B singer K.A.C.E. was a certified hit maker, making

04:28timeless classics that have stood the test of time.

04:31I recently caught up with the Grammy-nominated singer during his first visit to the region

04:35for a nostalgic trip down memory lane and to find out what he's working on now.

04:48K.A.C.E., welcome to Doha.

04:50It's your first time here.

04:52What are your first impressions?

04:53I love it.

04:54It's beautiful.

04:55It's a little hot for me, but it's real pretty.

04:57I like it.

04:58I'm having a good time.

04:59Now, it's also your first time in the region.

05:00Were you surprised to see so many K.A.C.E. fans here?

05:03I was extremely surprised.

05:04I was surprised it was my mother, because she was like, well, they don't listen to R&B

05:09in the Middle East.

05:10So, when I got here, I was showing her little stuff, like I had notes from the hotel.

05:14I'm like, see?

05:15She was like, oh, I guess that answers my question.

05:17So with the love that you're receiving from the fans from the hotel, what does that tell

05:20you about music's ability to bring people and cultures together?

05:23It tells me what I've always known, that good music brings everybody together because everybody

05:27has the same feelings, no matter what you believe, no matter where you're from, no matter

05:31how much money you have.

05:32We all have the same feelings.

05:33We're all human.

05:34And if you can translate that into music, you'll touch people from all over because

05:40we all have the same feelings and emotions that we go through.

05:42Early in your career, you said you hoped your music would last 20, 30 years, and clearly

05:47it has.

05:48What's the secret to making timeless classics?

05:49Well, for me, it was to not follow trends.

05:52It was to be honest with it, and not do what's hot right now, but to deal with real feelings,

05:57real emotions, real situations, because those things never go out of style.

06:01People are always going to miss somebody, people are always going to be in love, people

06:03are always going to fall out of love, they're going to break up.

06:06Those things are always going to be part of the human condition.

06:09So if you can capture that, then I felt like I could do that.

06:16You've done that.

06:17You got two Grammy nominations.

06:19You worked with Mary J. You worked with Faith Evans.

06:21You had a Young Beyonce in your video, a Grammy nomination with Ja Rule.

06:26That's an incredible career.

06:27Yeah.

06:28Right?

06:29Yeah.

06:30Yeah, I'm blessed.

06:31I'm thankful for it.

06:32Yeah, a lot of it's more than I expected, but I'm thankful for all of it.

06:35Speaking of first time, what was it like the first time you heard your music on the radio?

06:39You know, it's funny.

06:40People ask me that all the time.

06:41It didn't matter to me.

06:43It still doesn't.

06:44It's more exciting for me to be standing somewhere in a car driver's pass playing the music.

06:48Because you can pay to get something on the radio.

06:50But you can't pay for people to like it and ride around playing it.

06:53So that's more exciting for me.

06:54And you're still recording.

06:55So tell me what you're working on now.

06:56Well, I'm done.

06:57I have a new project called Love Jones Vol. 2 and a new single called Naked that's out

07:02now with R.L. from Next and Raheem Devon.

07:05And so we're going to put out another single probably about the end of the year.

07:13What advice do you have for young musicians watching on how they can navigate their career?

07:18I would say the first thing they should know and have in the front of their mind is that

07:23to have an idea of who they want to be and make sure that you stick to that.

07:27Because there's going to be tons of people who have an idea of what you should be.

07:30The problem with that is a lot of those people, if it fails, they can go get another person.

07:35You only get one you.

07:36So you have to know who you want to be and kind of try to stick to that as much as possible.

07:40All right, Casey.

07:41Thank you for joining us.

07:42Thank you, man.

07:43Appreciate you.

07:44Welcome.

07:45Thank you, Adoha.

07:47From world-class film and TV productions to an internationally acclaimed musician and

07:51actors for whom performing is a passion, not a profession, Yohanna Hu's caught up with

07:56the Doha Players, the amateur theater group that has been stealing the spotlight in Qatar

08:00for the past 70 years.

08:06Tonight's applause looks a little different for the Doha Players.

08:10Members of the theater group are on stage, but there are no costumes or even a play.

08:16Instead, the audience has come to this ballroom to celebrate not one, but seven decades of

08:20performances at the amateur drama community's 70th anniversary gala in Qatar.

08:26The 70th anniversary of Doha Players.

08:29Go, Doha!

08:31We're celebrating 70 years of goofballery in the desert, really.

08:3770 years of Doha Players putting on plays, doing music, creating a family of theater

08:44people in the desert.

08:46An expat plus local community that everybody can feel at home.

08:52With a black-tie dress code, banquet dinner and ballroom backdrop, the scene is set for

08:57a glamorous anniversary night.

08:59But the Doha Players' beginnings were much more humble.

09:02When the theater group first took to the stage in the 1950s, it did so in an old furniture

09:07shop in Sukwakiv.

09:09Much has changed since those early days, but what hasn't is the Doha Players' penchant

09:14for performing.

09:17In 1954, some expats who were working here with one of the oil and gas companies said,

09:23why don't we get together and put on some plays?

09:26And so they kind of eked out a little space down in the suit and started doing plays.

09:33Nowadays, of course, the costumes and the special effects and lighting and everything

09:38is so much more advanced than what we would have had in the 50s.

09:43With volunteers from over 40 different countries, the Doha Players are a creative melting pot,

09:49welcoming theater enthusiasts from all walks of life.

09:53From set designers and sound operators to actors and makeup artists, the non-profit

09:58group offers a community for Doha residents wishing to dedicate their time to drama.

10:03Doha Players has an increase of volunteers from all nations and that's been a real joy

10:15because they have so much to offer, not just as what they can culturally give to us, but

10:22also individually of what they can give to us.

10:25People working on set, people working on props, people working on costumes, people working

10:29on light and sounds, where you have the directors, the choreographer, the musical directors and

10:36it's a great family.

10:38Whether it's classic plays or modern musicals, the Doha Players stage performances of all

10:43theatrical genres.

10:44Neil McBride is the director of Little Shop of Horrors, one of the group's upcoming productions

10:50about a man-eating plant that tries to take over the world.

10:53Little Shop of Horrors is a horror comedy, I think it can be described as.

10:59Doing different shows is just an amazing experience because you meet so many people from all over

11:05the world, you have a laugh, you have shared experiences, you have long days, you have

11:11tough challenges, but you all come together at the end of it and there's no better feeling

11:15than seeing an audience go out of this theatre having had an amazing experience and you know

11:21all of your hard work was worth every effort.

11:24And if it's up to the Doha Players, that hard work will continue for decades in their final

11:28curtain won't fold for another 70 years to come.

11:36From backstage at a community theatre to on location for a TV commercial production, we

11:41explored several sides of the entertainment business, from those who produce it to those

11:45who perform it.

11:46We hope you enjoyed this episode, but that's all the time we have for now.

11:50For more, check out euronews.com and connect with us through our hashtag.

11:53Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time on Qatar 365.

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