What Trump's proposed tariffs could mean for the Arab film industry

The National

05-05-2025

US President Donald Trump's announcement that he has authorised a 100 per cent tariff on films made "in foreign lands' has been met with shock and confusion in the Mena film community. Countries that offer tax incentives for international productions such as the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco and Tunisia would be particularly affected by the potential move. For decades, Hollywood projects have been pivotal to the development of their respective local film industries, particularly in terms of investment, infrastructure and talent development. The proposed tariffs could disrupt Hollywood projects already set to film in the region, according to Qais Qandil, the Jordanian founder of The Film Makers, an Emirati production company, which has brought international projects such as The Misfits and Beyond the Likes to the emirates in the past. Qandil tells The National: 'As a producer who has spent years bridging Hollywood and Abu Dhabi, I've seen first-hand how international collaboration strengthens the industry creatively and economically. It may complicate my immediate plans to bring more US projects to the region.' Qandil also notes that Hollywood does not solely choose to film in countries such as the UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia because of rebate incentives. Projects such as the Mission: Impossible series, for instance, were able to pull off certain action set pieces thanks to Abu Dhabi's regulatory and logistical capabilities, which are not found in other locations. 'A tariff such as this risks penalising US productions that choose global locations like the UAE not for cost alone, but for world-class infrastructure and cinematic value. It could discourage the very partnerships that have made modern filmmaking thrive,' says Qandil. If Hollywood projects stop filming in the Mena region, it could have a potentially harmful effect on the local creative scene. UAE film professional Kane Rodrigues worked in Abu Dhabi on Dune: Part Two, the upcoming films Now You See Me: Now You Don't and F1, as well as Dubai productions including the Jack Ryan film, which stars John Krasinski, and City of Life 2. If those projects stop coming, it could halt the development of talent from the UAE, he believes. 'As a local sound mixer, getting opportunities to be part of the sound department in major Hollywood studio films means a great deal. UAE's film industry is still evolving, and these are the only opportunities we local crew get to be involved and to grow, as we rarely have locally produced films of this scale,' says Rodrigues. But the Arab film industry at large does not solely rely on Hollywood. Egyptian filmmaker Mohammed Hefzy, founder of the influential pan-regional production company Film Clinic, believes that, apart from Hollywood co-productions, Arab films will largely be unaffected. 'In terms of Arab cinema, the effect would be minimal. There are not many Arab films screened in the US anyway, and American audiences would still see those films on streaming at no extra charge.' Trump's move could also have a ripple effect of retaliatory tariffs that could have an unintended detrimental effect on American movies, Hefzy believes. 'Some European and Asian countries would probably impose counter-tariffs on US films, which would make Hollywood suffer quite a bit,' says Hefzy. The tariff proposition's lack of particulars leaves much uncertainty, especially in the world of streaming – perhaps the most significant current distribution system for bringing Arab films to the world. The US streamer Netflix, for example, distributes and produces several Arab films each year. It's unclear whether those projects would be affected by tariffs as well, how that would be implemented, and if it would harm the growth of Arab film on the world stage. Gianluca Chakra, founder of Front Row Filmed Entertainment, has produced several Netflix original Arab films, including the 2022 Lebanese-Egyptian hit Perfect Strangers and 2025's The Sand Castle. Chakra is concerned that this could affect this business model. 'I'm wondering what would happen to co-productions or streaming originals. How would you measure the value of a so-called non-US production that is streaming in the US in order then to apply its respective tariff or tax?' Chakra wonders. While Chakra understands Trump's concern for the health of Hollywood, which has experienced a marked drop in domestic production in recent years, he doesn't think the US will be able to reverse the trend. And, as on-screen storytelling has become increasingly decentralised, Mena countries should be adding increased incentives for local productions to develop their own self-sustaining industries. 'There is a hunger for those. They're slowly eating away from major studios anyway,' Chakra says. But for filmmakers hoping to gain attention from awards bodies such as the Oscars, US distribution is pivotal. Jordanian filmmaker Razan Takash, head of film at SAE University College Dubai, is concerned that the potential tariffs could affect the ability of foreign films to reach American film festivals, some of which are Oscar qualifiers. Emerging firms such as Watermelon Pictures have made a concerted effort to bring films such as Oscar-nominee Farah Nabulsi's The Teacher to US audiences. The Palestinian-Israeli film No Other Land, too, was theatrically successful despite lacking traditional distribution, in part because of its Oscars boost. And for Arab genre filmmakers, especially those working within the horror and sci-fi spaces, the US is a more supportive market than the Mena region, according to Takash. 'My last sci-fi shorts got distributed mostly in the US, so if they are not going be taking foreign films at the same rate, then that's a big loss for me as a platform,' she adds. Amid a lack of clarity as to how the plan will be enacted and whether it will come to fruition at all, many in the Mena region's film industry are waiting to see what will happen next – and hoping for the best. 'Personally, I believe this tariff is politically driven and unlikely to hold in the long run,' says Qandil.