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LOS ANGELES: Saudi filmmakers Hisham Fageeh and Sultan Tamer have decided to take a step toward bridging the culture gap between Hollywood and post-cinema ban ����ֱ��’s burgeoning film industry.����

The pair recently launched their company DH’BAB Production, which provides a platform for Saudi creators to tell stories uniquely rooted in their culture.��

“America has a deep history of representing Arabs in a specific way, and other minorities,” Fageeh said in an interview with Arab News. “I don’t necessarily need to change all of Hollywood. I just want to make a tiny, tiny enclave where people are telling authentic stories that are not racist or Orientalist.”��

The goal of Fageeh, the comedian and star of “Barakah Meets Barakah,” and his partner – fellow producer Tamer –��is to ensure their movies are as entertaining for ardent film fans as for those with little theatre-going experience.��

“We’re going to focus on genre stuff. So, a lot of horror, a lot of comedy,” said Fageeh. “The prestige stuff is important. We love it and we know we have friends that are doing it, but we want to make movie going a tradition back home, especially with the cinemas opening up.”��

The founders believe that streaming cinema is not enough, and hope that the movies they make can become blockbusters in their home country and popularize theaters as a place for community members to come together.��

“Because it’s the only visceral space that exists that is accessible to everyone where you can go and collectively laugh at a film or you can hold your breath at the suspense of a horror or a thriller,” Fageeh explained.����

“I really want that to be part of the social and cultural tradition of people in ����ֱ��,” he added.����

According to the website, the company is now working on two productions — “Grave Sin” and “The Tribe” — that are in the development stage.����

“Grave Sin” is a horror feature film set in ����ֱ�� that revolves around Aziz, who begrudgingly leaves Japan to console his grieving mother by building her a new house. Paranormal activity will blur the lines between emotional and actual demons haunting him.����

“The Tribe” is a ����ֱ��-set television series centered on a group of Jeddah high schoolers who survived a bus crash in the world’s largest uninterrupted desert, Rub Al-Khali, The Empty Quarter, and must uncover the dark supernatural secrets of an ancient, buried city if they ever hope to go home.������