Discovery Channel showcases Middle Eastern talent in its new short films

Karin Heijink, Channel Director - Emerging Markets at Discovery Communications Europe will host the special screening, showcasing local talent in the UAE. The three short films to be presented will be 'Desert Warriors', 'The Strip' and 'Desert Heat'. They were produced for Discovery Channel by Don Productions in Dubai.

Donald Harding, Managing Director, Don Productions said, "The inspiration for Don Productions to make these three short films came from our belief that there was more to the region than the usual stereotypes. We wanted to show that the people of the UAE and the region shared interests and lifestyles with their contemporaries in other parts of the world".

The antagonists of the short films were chosen by Discovery based on their strong personalities combined with a passion for their chosen pursuits. The resulting films capture this passion and allow their message and essential humanity to be conveyed across cultures and reach audiences worldwide.

Karin Heijink, commenting on the screening said, "Our programming is highly focussed on real life stories that are imaginative, engaging and original, after all real life is better then fiction. The Middle East is an important market for us and there are many stories to be told in this region as you can see in our long form programming, such as Building the Future and World's Richest People. To bring our brand to life for our audience here, we have embarked on this project to produce local short films featuring local people and their stories. We are keen to work with production companies and talent to ensure our shorts engage our viewers and reflect their real life. While the project retains its local voice we are pleased that are content is appealing to international markets. These films will also be shown in South Africa, Middle East and Turkey.

The project is very successful and the quality of the short films produced in the Middle East is so high and the stories so appealing that we will show these shorts also in other regions."

In addition to the three short films, the screening will feature previews of local content programming including a new Discovery series, World's Richest People, which offers an exclusive look into the lives of 32 multi-millionaires. One of them is Maha Al Ghunhaim from Kuwait, described by Forbes magazine as one of the 'Top 50 leading Arab women.' She was the first woman ever to set up an investment bank in the Middle East, which now has 14 branches worldwide.

Other new series on Discovery Channel, Building the Future, will look at the innovative possibilities that engineers and other experts have created for super rich states like Abu Dhabi and Oman.

Discovery Channel is exclusively available in the Middle East on Orbit (Channel 14).