06/06/2012

Arab region gets its first crowd-funding initiative

As Euromed Audiovisual discussed crowd-funding in Cannes, somewhere else at the festival, a woman was busy launching the Arab world’s first ever crowd-funding platform

Industry

Aflamnah (lit. “Our films”), the Arab region’s first crowd-funding website, was launched during the Cannes film festival. The website will help talented individuals fund a wide range of projects, including film, television, art, music, photography and fashion with the help of passionate, like-minded individuals pledging support to help bring their idea to life.

In a bid to build on the incredible talent and creativity in the region, Aflamnah focuses on projects for the Arab world created by Arabs, or by individuals or organisations that care about the culture, society, and people, resident in any of its countries.

The platform, which will launch on July 1, aims to turn fantasies into reality, and to enrich, inspire and educate all those involved. The initiative hopes to change the way that creativity is conceived in the region, and hopes to encourage a new generation of directors, artists and storytellers to pursue their passion. 

People will post the information about their project via the Aflamnah website and once the idea has been approved within the guidelines, they are given permission to take their project live on the site. The project must meet its self-assigned target within 28 days. If a project doesn’t meet its goal, no money is exchanged. Aflamnah has no ownership over the projects, acting instead in a supportive role to help projects become successfully funded. 

“Money is always a huge barrier to creativity and raising the funds for an idea is incredibly challenging. The aim of Aflamnah is to encourage and change the lives of aspiring filmmakers or budding artists to raise the funds to get their projects into the public domain,” said Aflamnah’s main founder, Vida Rizq. She noted that Aflamnah is all about connecting creative people with audiences who want to help someone’s dream come true. 

Aflamnah already has four confirmed projects that it will launch with on July 1. These include award-winning director, Annemarie Jacir’s new film When I Saw You, Dima Hamdan’s award-winning crime thriller script The Kidnap, Amar Chebib Music, Politics and Ecstasy and Viola Shafik’s Scent of Revolution.

Aflamnah has been set up in partnership with Virtuzone, Fujairah’s Creative City Free Zone in the UAE.

 

Source: http://www.varietyarabia.com/Docs.Viewer/0b860cc5-68db-4672-b689-70da5faff352/default.aspx