Webedia Arabia Group, a leading media and technology company developing strategic, insight-driven, culturally-led and creative content for Arab Consumers, announces Netflix’s licensing of the popular Saudi drama series, Takki, which is now available for viewing on the platform.  

Produced by UTURN which is part of Webedia Arabia Group, the dramatic series follows the story of a young Saudi film director following his dream of what was once a ban of cinemas in the Kingdom and several other social issues such as women not being able to drive at one point in time. It reflects facets of the Saudi society and the social challenges its youth faced, providing insights into the life of a generation caught between conservatism and modernism. The homegrown Saudi series was written and produced by Mohammad (Anggy) Makki. 

Initially a YouTube phenomenon that aired in 2012, Takki - meaning “to chill” (to relax) in the Saudi socially spoken Arabic - gained wide popularity among the youth for its progressive approach and relatable premises. This made Takki one of the most popularly received YouTube series originating out of the Middle East.

Kaswara Al-Khatib, Chairman of the Board, Webedia Arabia Group and Founder of UTURN continues to nurture and honor Saudi talent and to propel the industry forward by increasing international recognition. The licensing of Takki by Netflix reinforces the interest factor for hyper-localized Saudi content. 

“In a region that lacks content relevant to the Saudi youth, localization was key. Additionally, Saudi Arabia is filled with rising stars and through UTURN, we’ve created talent pools and incubated them. This is our way of helping to reshape the future of content and the Saudi digital culture. Webedia Arabia Group is now full of opportunities that are in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and we are positioned to develop outstanding content reaching worldwide audiences” he commented. 

Webedia Arabia Group Chief Executive Officer, George Maktabi said, “In a fast-moving world and with our 63 million Arab users, we are constantly combining the right narrative with insightful data, bridging the gap between audiences and broadcasters by engaging viewers in topics they are passionate about and giving them a space to express their creativity.” 

As part of the Kingdom’s transformational era in promoting culture and entertainment, UTURN by Webedia Arabia Group is continuing to foster the talent of Saudi youth and the industry with several new projects in the pipeline. 

Available now on Netflix, Season one and two of Takki each contain 14 episodes, offering global audiences a perspective into the world of Saudi Arabia’s youth. 

BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands 2020 reveals that the total brand value of the world’s most valuable brands has increased by 5.9%, despite COVID-19.

The world’s most valuable brands have seen their total brand value increase by 5.9% despite the economic, social and personal impacts of COVID-19, according to the 2020 BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking released today. The total brand value of the Top 100 global brands reached US$5 trillion, equivalent to the annual GDP of Japan. It has increased by 245% since 2006, when the total brand value first reached US$1 trillion.

The Top 100 most valuable brands have shown they are more resilient and less volatile in the current crisis than they were during the global economic crisis of 2008-9, adding an additional US$277bn of brand value growth over the past year. The BrandZ strong brands portfolios continued to outperform the market, including the S&P 500 and MSCI World Index, and even in the current crisis dipped less than the global average.

The ranking uses valuations data incorporating stock price performance from April 2020 to reflect the impact of COVID-19. Against a backdrop of uncertainty, those companies that have consistently invested in longer-term marketing and in building strong brands have managed to stave off the worst of the crisis. Prior to the global pandemic, total brand value of the Top 100 brands was set to increase by 9%.

Technology brands continue to dominate the Top 10

Amazon maintained its position as the world’s most valuable brand, growing 32% to US$415.9bn. Having first entered the BrandZ Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands ranking in 2006, Amazon’s value grew by almost $100bn this year and accounts for a third of the Top 100’s total growth.

Technology brands continued to dominate the top of the ranking, representing over a third (37%) of brand value in the Top 100 and growing overall by 10%. Apple maintained its position as the second most valuable global brand (+14%, $352.2bn) while Microsoft regained the no. 3 position (+30%, $326.5bn) ahead of Google (+5%, $323.6bn) at no. 4, due to the growth of its cloud-enabled workplace ecosystem that incorporates Office365 and Microsoft Teams, allowing people to maintain ‘business as usual’ during the lockdown.

Asian brands represented a quarter of the Top 100 brands, including 17 Chinese brands. Alibaba (+16%, no. 6, $152.5bn) was the most valuable Chinese brand with Internet services giant, Tencent (+15%, no. 7, $151bn) one place behind.

Strong brands are weathering the storm

This year’s BrandZ Top 100 showed that innovation and creativity are key drivers of growth as people spend more time online. This is seen not only in companies like Amazon, Apple and Google - the tech giants that keep on innovating - but also in one of the most exciting new brands, short video-sharing social network TikTok (no. 79, $16.9bn). TikTok was the highest new entry this year, offering light-hearted, entertaining user-generated content.

The continued growth in value of the BrandZ Top 100 shows that strong brands are in a much better place than they were in the global economic crisis of 2008-9. We see a significant improvement in brand equity now compared to 10 years ago because businesses understand the importance of investing in brand-building and are stronger and more resilient as a result. While the impact of COVID-19 has impacted every business regardless of size or geography, consistent investment in marketing can and will help carry you through a crisis.

Shifting lifestyles propel the fastest risers

The retail sector showed strong performance, growing the fastest (21%) in brand value driven by the major e-commerce players. Retail e-commerce brands Amazon, Alibaba and JD (+24%, no. 52, $25.5bn) demonstrated innovation and agility during difficult times, along with more traditional retailers like Walmart (+24%, no. 27, $45.8bn), which has invested in its e-commerce capabilities.

Unsurprisingly given our new lockdown lifestyles, over half of brands in the media and entertainment category appeared in the top 20 risers, including Netflix (+34%, $45.9bn), up eight places to no. 26, Instagram (+47%, $41.5bn) up 15 places to no. 29, LinkedIn (+31%, no. 43, $29.9bn), and Xbox (+18%, $19.6bn), up 22 places to no. 65.

Brands have also found new and creative ways to engage with consumers, build trust and create a level of intimacy, particularly in health and wellness. Athleisure brand Lululemon (+40%, $9.7bn) was one of the fastest risers, having shifted its focus from yoga-inspired wear to work-appropriate leisurewear, as well as offering online classes for people at home.

Trends to watch

MasterCard entered the Top 10 for the first time this year, due to strong financial performance, supported by growing brand equity especially in engaging consumers: successfully fitting into the ‘ecosystem’ of their everyday lives and gaining a close emotional connection through its purposeful positioning.

Five new entrants appear in the Top 100, led by Chinese entertainment brand TikTok, followed by UnitedHealthcare (no. 86, $15.8bn), Bank of China (no. 97, $13.7bn), Lancôme (no. 98, $13.6bn) and Pepsi (no. 99, $13.3bn).

Building ecology has become a trend in the global business community. Haier (no. 68, $18.7bn) is the leading IoT ecosystem brand for the second year running.

US brands represented more than half of the Top 100 brands. Asian brands represented a quarter of the Top 100 brands, with 17 from China (including Alibaba and Tencent in the Top 10) and two from Japan (Toyota and NTT).

Sustainability is the new luxury – younger consumers expect the qualities associated with luxury, but with sustainable materials and less packaging. Four luxury brands made the Top 100 this year, led by Louis Vuitton (+10%, no. 19, $51.8bn).

Multi award-winning creative powerhouse Mohammad Kamal joins APCO Worldwide to head-up the MENA region’s Creative Practice from Dubai

APCO Worldwide appointed today Mohammad Kamal as  a regional creative practice lead which will elevate its multimedia content capabilities to offer clients a full suite of 360 creative services, announced Mamoon Sbeih, APCO Worldwide’s MENA president. The appointment of Kamal, a multi award-winning creative industry leader, complements and fortifies APCO’s globally established artificial intelligence and digital capabilities.

“We are proud to welcome one of the region’s creative driving forces to lead our creative practice,” Sbeih said. “In today’s always-on world, creative storytelling is part of the fabric of communications practice. Mo’s relentless pursuit of his artform will provide an invaluable boost to the ways our clients can engage the public, their stakeholders and wider audiences, as we fortify our creative capabilities with a truly 360 offering.”

Known for his out-of-the-box, headline-making work, Kamal brings over 20 years of experience to APCO’s Dubai office where he will head-up the MENA creative practice, and focus on amplifying clients’ positioning and work, through stimulating and inspirational multimedia content.

Prior to joining APCO, Kamal served as the managing partner and executive creative director at Memac Ogilvy Advize in Jordan. He founded Advize, a local boutique agency, until it merged with Memac Ogilvy Jordan in 2011. With his innate entrepreneurship, Kamal transformed the company into one of the top agencies in Jordan.

Kamal and his team have been consistently recognized for their professional excellence, including being on award-winning campaigns for a wide array of local and international brands such as G+, wi-tribe, Jordan Commercial Bank, Total and others. He earned a Grand Prix at the Dubai Lynx for two consecutive years and received a Cannes Lion in 2017—both first achievements for Jordan.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining one of the world’s most highly esteemed communications firms,” said Kamal. “With the world undergoing a reset in so many areas, a range of new, creative ways to communicate across the spectrum of industry and business have emerged, and I’m thrilled to be starting this era of creative and digital storytelling with a professional team as respected and aspirational as APCO Worldwide.”

Kamal joins an experienced group of industry veterans in APCO’s creative team who know their home markets but are global in their thinking, including Howard Pulchin, Tracy Mathews, Flor Marenco-Adelberg, Imad Lahad, Steve Salvador, Dave Burke and Brendan Ward, who joined APCO’s Raleigh office earlier this year.

GoDaddy, the company that empowers everyday entrepreneurs around the world, has launched a beta version of the new GoDaddy Arabic website.

The GoDaddy website experience, marketing, and award-winning customer support will be available in Arabic, to help local small businesses and entrepreneurs across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) build an online presence.

GoDaddy’s Arabic website will enable local entrepreneurs to utilize various GoDaddy products and services to help boost their company’s online presence and grow their venture. This beta version offers customers the ability to share feedback, which will be used by GoDaddy developers to help further enhance the customer experience across the website. 

Although Arabic is the fourth most used language on the internet, with more than 273 million Arabic speakers, studies have shown that the Arabic content penetration on the internet is around 5% with low quality. A majority of websites depend on ‘automatic translation’ for viewing the content in their local languages, as a result Arabic website content is often translated inaccurately. Therefore, many Arabic businesses do not consider creating company websites due to the time-consuming nature of creating content in Arabic language and the struggle to find correct, useful information in their native language. 

The need to support Arabic businesses comes as the MENA region has observed a significant growth of small businesses. According to research, up to 80 to 90 percent of businesses in MENA are comprised of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Concurrently, the MSMEs sector in the GCC region presents a potential of 156% growth in the next five years, employing 22 million people, according to a study by MENA Research Partners (MRP).

With a vision to support everyday entrepreneurs and small business owners across the MENA region, GoDaddy’s Arabic website aims to provide them with easier access to useful digital tools, solutions, content, and customer support in the local language, to help meet business needs, and provide guidance to help them in their online journey.

Customers can now switch to the Arabic website by clicking on ‘region-language’ at the footer of the  GoDaddy UAE website.

Selina Bieber, Senior Regional Director for Turkey, MENA and South Africa, GoDaddy explains, “Across the Middle East and North Africa, we have localized our marketing communications in both Arabic and English to help raise awareness of the GoDaddy brand and benefits of creating an online presence for a business, along with guiding our customers along their online journey. Now we are focused on offering a customer experience for our Arabic speaking customers to easily use our online products and services. We are eager to connect with them and listen to their feedback as we more deeply engage with our Arabic customers in the region.”

With MSME’s playing a pivotal role in MENA countries, having a professional company website is one of the key strategies today for business expansion and growth.

With the new Arabic website’s beta version now live, GoDaddy offers both Arabic and English-speaking entrepreneurs and small business owners in the UAE and broader MENA Region, online tools and guidance to create their own digital identities and grow their businesses. 

Star-studded cast from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines takes center stage

Viu, a leading pan-regional OTT video service from PCCW Media Group with more than 41 million monthly active users*, announced that the 10-episode second season of Endemol Shine Group’s The Bridge, produced by Viu and in association with HBO Asia Originals, aired on Viu, HBO GO and HBO across Asia on June 15. One new episode of the production is available every week.

The award-winning series returns with Singapore's Rebecca Lim and Malaysia's Bront Palarae reprising their lead roles. In season two, the cast has been expanded to include talent from Indonesia and the Philippines. Indonesia’s Ario Bayu plays a law enforcement officer with a hidden agenda. Rounding out the impressive regional cast are Wan Hanafi Su, Fikry Ibrahim and Chew Kin Wah from Malaysia, Lukman Sardi, Amanda Manopo and Miller Khan from Indonesia, Adrian Pang from Singapore and Joseph Marco from the Philippines. TJ Lee and Jason Chong return to direct, alongside Zahir Omar.

Adapted from the original Endemol Shine series and injected with local flavour, the story picks up a year after season one. A yacht registered in Singapore drifts ashore in Johor with a deceased Indonesian family on board. Investigating the slew of serial killings that follow, the characters become mired in a web of treachery, deceit and personal tragedy. Darker and more twisted than before, this new season plays with themes of corruption, redemption and revenge and is set against a distinctly Asian underworld backdrop.

Ms. Sahana Kamath, Head of Original Production for Viu Indonesia and Malaysia, said, “With this show, we are delighted to bring the best of Asian talent to our audiences across 16 markets. This gritty and atmospheric second season returns with an impressive cast from across Southeast Asia. It is a true regional production with more twists and turns, digging deeper into character and moving the action seamlessly across three countries. We believe our viewers will enjoy this bolder and more adrenaline-pumping season two of The Bridge.”

Ms. Jessica Kam, Head of HBO Asia Original Production, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks & Sales, Southeast Asia, Pacific and China, said, “WarnerMedia continues to engage our audiences with compelling new original content during these unusual times. This second season of The Bridge introduces an Indonesian dimension to the Singapore/Malaysia adaptation which escalates the stakes and production value of the established series, making it even bigger and better. We value our continued partnership with Viu to produce quality pan-regional programming for our fans in Asia.”   

Ms. Rashmi Bajpai, Executive Director of Asia, Endemol Shine International, said, “We are pleased to witness how The Bridge continues to transcend languages and cultures, entertaining audiences around the globe. This Asian version of the show deftly weaves together the cultural, creative, and commercial appeal of storytelling in ways that evoke powerful reactions from audiences.”

The second season of The Bridge is available on Viu in all its markets, as well as on HBO Asia’s network of channels and services, including HBO GO, HBO and HBO ON DEMAND, across 24 territories.

The Bridge was originally created and written by Hans Rosenfeldt as a joint production of Sweden's Filmlance International, part of Endemol Shine Group, and Denmark's Nimbus Film. The Bridge (Bron/Broen) was produced in co-production with Sveriges Television, DR, ZDF German Television network, ZDF Enterprises Gmbh, Film i Skåne, NRK, Copenhagen Film Fund, Lumiere Group, Stiftelsen Ystad Österlen Filmfond, Nordvision and in co-operation with Malmö Stad. It has aired in more than 188 territories/countries and spawned localized remakes in the U.K./France, the United States/Mexico, Germany/Austria, Russia/Estonia and Serbia/Croatia.

Entertainment meets lifestyle with the ZEE5 Global-ZNAP partnership in UAE

ZEE5 Global, the largest OTT platform for Indian content, announces its partnership with cashback mobile app ZNAP in UAE. The application offers users a unique shopping experience with rewards and bonuses while sitting at home. The partnership will provide users a chance to earn cashback credit and a monthly subscription to premium content on ZEE5 Global.

ZEE5 Global intends to engage with ZNAP’s large user base through an engaging video that plays on the app upon login. A ZEE5 content composite video is placed on the app including titles like Chintu Ka Birthday, The Casino and Lalbazaar. Users who complete watching the full video get a chance to be a part of a lucky draw hosted by ZNAP to win AED 50 worth credit into their ZNAP account which can be used for further purchases.

Furthermore, ZNAP entitles anyone enrolled with the app to a free ZEE5 Global monthly subscription with access to more than 100,000 hours of on-demand content, including popular ZEE5 premium and originals.

Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global said, “We are delighted to announce yet another collaboration in the Middle East region. This partnership will enable ZNAP’s extensive use base across the U.A.E. to access and experience our huge bouquet of premium entertainment content, while staying home.”

‘KADAK FM’ to offer fresh new content, retaining all the popular and loved presenters

-  Station to continue broadcasting on 97.3 FM in Abu Dhabi, 88.8 FM in Dubai and 95.6 FM in Al Ain

Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) has announced the rebranding of its popular Hindi Radio offering Radio Mirchi, in the UAE, to ‘Kadak FM’, in line with its vision to provide innovative and modernized content across all platforms.

With a fresh sound and a new brand, ‘Kadak FM’ will offer content that is vibrant, contemporary, positive, informative, local and fun. The name ‘KADAK’ finds its origins in the Indian subcontinent, an expression that evokes happiness and satisfaction, and has become an integral part of the local parlance among residents in the UAE. 

“The launch of Kadak FM reflects ADM’s commitment to offering quality content, and will help further strengthen its position as an original content creator and leader, especially amongst South Asians in the UAE,” said AbdulRaheem Al Bateeh Al Nuaimi, Acting General Manager at ADM.

New content on the station includes re-branding of the weekday breakfast show to ‘Kadak Mornings’ with RJ Mohit. The show will feature special segments like ‘Sunny side up’, and ‘Yalla, Let’s Talk’, bringing you happy stories & your daily dose of infotainment from the UAE & beyond.

Hot on the heels of the morning show is KADAK FM’s ‘Mid Day Mohabbat’ with RJ Yachna, the only show in the UAE that plays three hours of love songs. The new segments include feel good content, a little dose of poetry & chatting up with musical guests in lines with the show promise.  

The station’s Bollywood show, ‘Total Filmi’ with RJ Nikky will continue to bring the latest from Bollywood including celebrity interviews and scoops in the afternoons.

‘KADAK FM’ is also all set to present a funnier ‘Bumper to Bumper’ with RJ Vikrant and his brand new hilarious ‘avatars’ on the show. Akin to four hours of stand-up comedy, the show is sure to tickle the funny bone of listeners, making it the perfect companion for evening drives.

Kadak FM’s night offering of ‘Purani Jeans’ is the only Bollywood retro show in the UAE, where RJ Fahad will bring to life unheard stories and trivia, as well as behind-the-scenes from the yester years of Hindi cinema. New addition on the show includes creating Radio movies of Bollywood classics that is sure to keep listeners wanting for more.

Sandeep Sud, head of Kadak FM said, “Our main focus through the new brand is to provide our audience with UAE centric content and the best of Bollywood. The offering will be underpinned by the 3Cs of entertainment – Cinema, City and Cricket, bringing the best of content, music, concerts and events to our listeners in the country.”

KADAK FM will continue to broadcast on 97.3 FM in Abu Dhabi, 88.8 FM in Dubai and 95.6 in in Al Ain. Listeners can also tune in online or via streaming apps across the UAE.

Netflix has hired  marketing veteran Bozoma Saint John, a former senior exec at Apple, Uber and most recently Endeavor, as its new CMO, the company announced.The former chief brand officer at Uber succeeds Jackie Lee-Joe, who is leaving Netflix for personal reasons.

Saint John will report to Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

“I’m thrilled to join Netflix, especially at a time when storytelling is critical to our global, societal well-being,” said Saint John. “I feel honored to contribute my experience to an already dynamic legacy, and to continue driving engagement in the future.”

Saint John was head of Global Marketing for Apple Music and iTunes and has worked on number of  advertising and marketing campaigns featuring celebrities like Mary J. Blige, Taylor Swift, and more.

Starting in August, Saint John will be responsible for spearheading marketing initiatives for the global entertainment streaming business.

As a global live and on-demand sports streaming service, you’d least expect an absence of live sport to be your biggest challenge. Yet that’s exactly what happened in March this year.

DAZN has scaled quickly since launching in 2016 and now streams coverage of more than 25,000 events annually through rights agreements with 800 sports leagues and competitions to millions of customers in nine of the most sports obsessed nations in the world.

However, as coronavirus became a global pandemic and the majority of live sport was paused, everything changed, and we suddenly had to find new ways to take fans closer to the sports and athletes they love.

The solution was to pivot our entire content strategy to create the richest sports video on demand offering to retain and entertain subscribers who unexpectedly found themselves in lockdown. This was made more difficult because not only were key protagonists in the world of sport self-isolating, but our production teams were also working from home.

The approach came to be defined by five pillars, each designed to bring a fresh perspective on sport and give viewers a breadth and depth of content that reflected DAZN’s point of view. The look of the platform was also revamped to simplify content discovery when we were without live events to dictate the schedule as normal.

‘DAZN Diaries’ was the umbrella brand for a series of content offering extraordinary insights into the world of sports under lockdown. Italian TV personality Diletta Leotta presented the format in that market, chatting virtually with football legends Francesco Totti and Fabio Cannavaro but also many other champions from multiple sports. In Germany, the quirky My Neighbour, the World Cup Winner saw DAZN reporter Sebastian Benesch talk daily on his balcony to Italia 1990 winner Andreas Brehme about everything under the sun. Luckily for us, they really were neighbours.

‘Archive re-imagined’ brought to life some of sport’s greatest events in new, never-before-seen ways. In the US, for example, Saturday Fight Live has become a popular weekly show in which boxing stars and personalities analyse classic fights they were involved in. Guests so far have included three-division world champion Canelo Alvarez, the legendary Oscar De La Hoya and leading promoter Eddie Hearn who watched back Joshua vs Ruiz 1 in full for the first time.

Experimentation with esports continued under lockdown, with the F1 esports Virtual Grand Prix streamed in Japan, Bundesliga at Home shown in Germany and the ePremier League made available to customers in Canada, Japan and Spain. And across our markets, new chat formats generated plenty of opinion and headlines, notably Anthony Joshua’s revelation during a guest appearance on Boxing with Chris Mannix that he would willingly fight Tyson Fury behind closed doors to make the bout happen.

DAZN already has a developed ‘originals and documentaries’ pipeline, primarily focused on bringing fans new content during off-seasons. Lockdown meant delivery of some titles could be brought forward, including brand new production Unconditional – A Mother’s Story with the first episode telling the story of Spanish MotoGP champion Marc Márquez from a uniquely intimate angle. For customers in Japan, we brought popular football manga animation series Captain Tsubasa to the platform on its 40th anniversary, with two episodes made available every day.

Last, but not least, some live sport did continue and DAZN was there to stream it. PDC took fans into the homes of elite darts players for 32 consecutive nights. The Nippon Professional Baseball league managed 66 pre-season matches behind closed doors before having to stop. UFC led the way in fight sports and WWE kept fans entertained from their Florida ‘performance centre’. Three days of the NFL Draft, conducted using a virtual format and streamed on DAZN Canada, seemed to be even bigger than the normal physical event.

None of this would have been possible without the introduction of cloud-based remote production technology that was rolled out across the business last year. This allows our content team to continue to develop and deliver quality content to our platform from their own homes.

Thankfully more live sport is beginning to return. The Bundesliga in Germany was the first major football league to resume with Nippon Professional Baseball friendlies in Japan not far behind. With Serie A in Italy back in action from 20 June, following the Premier League and LaLiga, there’s a lot to look forward to on DAZN.

What’s certain is that we have learnt a lot from the last few weeks and that, ultimately, has made us stronger. New creative thinking and uses of technology forged in response to the circumstances has helped to change the way we capture original content and upped our game.

The stage is set. Fans cannot wait for the return of more live sport and our creative and technical capabilities have never been better. Together with fans everywhere, we look forward to witnessing the greatest comeback of all time – of live sport itself.

Written by Jamie Rice,EVP Global Content at DAZN

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the world, drastically re-shaping our day-to-day existence. This situation has brought us solidarity, hardship and sadness, as well as a chance to see our own lives in a different light.  

This is the genesis behind Homemade, an ambitious project dreamed up by Italian producer Lorenzo Mieli (The Apartment Pictures), and Chilean producers Juan de Dios Larraín and Pablo Larraín (Fabula).

The idea was straight-forward: Approach a group of talented filmmakers currently in quarantine, and create an anthology of short films about their experiences. In this way, Homemade feels like filmmaking in its purest form, with bedrooms and bathrooms as locations and phones as cameras. Part of the beauty of this project was in its simplicity. Looking at these stories, people around the world would see comparisons to their present lives on screen.   

We wanted to show the differences and similarities of how isolation is experienced around the globe. This project organically brought together not only an incredible and diverse group of filmmakers from 11 different countries, but an impressive combination of up-and-coming trailblazers and established legends from the world of cinema.

What became clear as we first started watching the films is that this is a series that celebrates creativity, with no two stories being alike. These 17 films include group confessions, ominous house guests, surrealism, declarations of love, insomnia and the Queen of England and the Pope having a little flirt (see below). We even have a full-blown musical number. It’s remarkable that these ambitious and rich films were conceived and shot over the course of just several days.

These stories are even more poignant when our filmmakers turn the cameras on themselves and their families, documenting the struggles we are all facing, as we come to terms with living a completely reimagined and sometimes unrecognisable new normal. We are afforded an intimate window into their lives, and we are reminded that we are all facing the same challenges.

Working on this project was a true labour of love, and we could only bring it to Netflix in such a short period of time thanks to the commitment of all the teams involved. We cannot wait to share these stories with our members across the world. 

It’s strange to work on a project that you hope in the near future will feel like it came from a different era. However, we see Homemade as a time capsule, capturing the full range of emotions we have all felt over the past few months. This global pandemic has affected everyone in completely individual ways, but the message from Homemade is clear: we are all united by our shared experience during this time.

Source:Netflix