'Truly inspiring': First Netflix training programme for Arab women in film wraps in Madrid

The first training programme from Netflix to introduce Arab women into the film industry has been described as “truly inspiring” as the summit finishes.

The streaming platform teamed up with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture for the programme to support female filmmakers.

The group of 37 finished with a trip to the Spanish city following three-day workshops in Dubai, Jeddah and Cairo that took place in November. It aims to introduce aspiring talents to practices such as scriptwriting and filmmaking by established female directors.

In the final leg, participants visited Netflix’s content hub in Tres Cantos and widened their network. They also took part in talks with Casa Arabe, as well as Spanish government departments and film bodies.

Participants in the programme also took a trip to Netflix’s content hub in Tres Cantos. Photo: Netflix

For more mentoring, they also met with producer Emma Lustres, who has worked on films such as Cell 211 (2009) and Retribution (2015), as well as showrunner Gema R Neira, who worked on Nacho (2023), High Seas (2019) and Farina (2018).

“The programme was a great experience not only for the quality of information being taught, but also for meeting influential women from different areas in this industry and providing an interactive and fun experience,” said Maha Hani from Saudi Arabia.

“Seeing the drive and initiative by Netflix and Afac to provide opportunities for great stories by talented women all over the world is truly inspiring.”

Netflix and the fund announced a partnership last August to create the training programme called Women in Film: Introduction to the Creative Process, which aims to support talented young female filmmakers. A group of 45 women, who reside in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt, were chosen to take part in the initiative.

“As we embark on our 17th year of operations, we continue our active commitment to break stereotypes and champion women’s voices across the Arab region, creating avenues for the production of bold works that spark societal change in the longer term,” said Rima Mismar, executive director of the fund.

“In filmmaking more particularly, we are extremely pleased with this renewed partnership with Netflix, through which we can build on this commitment and instil technical capacities in young women talents of the region.”