Imagenation AD to make film on BP disaster

The capital’s juggernaut film fund, Imagenation Abu Dhabi had promised to court Hollywood’s elite and produce intelligent cinema through its $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) film fund and their latest project appears to do just that.
 
Imagenation has teamed up with Hollywood’s Summit Entertainment and Participant Media to produce a film on the BP oilrig disaster.
 
Interestingly, it is not a book or a screenplay that caught their attention but rather an article published in “The New York Times” titled “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour” published December 25, 2010 and written by David Barstow, David Rohde, and Stephanie Saul.
 
A planned filmed adaptation of the article will depict the courage of those who worked on the oil rig and the final minutes leading up to the arguably the world’s biggest oil spill disaster that ultimately led to great devastation that will forever be remembered.
 
The film will be written by Matthew Sand (“Ninja Assassin”) and is expected to be co-financed by Summit and Participant Media, along with Imagenation Abu Dhabi. Summit is also reportedly negotiating with Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (“Red”, “Salt”, “Transformers”) to produce the project via his Di Bonaventura Pictures banner.
 
Michael Garin, CEO Imagenation Abu Dhabi, said in a statement: “Our partnership with Participant Media, and by extension Summit, continues to generate movies which raise awareness of issues and inspire social change.
 
“This powerful account truly represents the ideal aims of storytelling, where the search for the truth uncovers everyday heroism in the face of adversity, and so is destined to be an important film appealing to international audiences all over the world.”
 
Summit’s President of Production, Erik Feig, stated, “This film will portray the great heroism that took place last year on the Deepwater Horizon rig and how colleagues so courageously came to each other’s aide.
 
“This piece in "The New York Times" evoked the raw emotion these brave men experienced and endured throughout the tragedy that took place in April of last year and we hope to evoke the same emotions for our audience with this movie.”
 
Creative enterprise
 
Launched in 2008 as a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), Imagenation Abu Dhabi aims to facilitate the growth of creative cinema in the UAE by developing, financing and producing Arabic and international features.
 
In fact, Imagenation is striving hard to work with local Arabs and ultimately, provide them with the expertise to launch their own films. Graduates from the Abu Dhabi campus of New York Film Academy and other local institutions are finding internship programmes at the company, while a special section within the business unit specially handles the funding of locally produced projects.
 
“Hollywood productions were the start, but what we want is a local film industry. We are still miles behind Egypt or even Morocco,” a representative from the company told Emirates 24|7 earlier. And the word ‘local’ doesn’t only mean Emiratis.
 
“Expats with film projects that somehow highlight this region or the Arab culture are also welcome to tap into the film fund. We want them to.”
 
The company in the past has worked with Participant Media, National Geographic Films, Hyde Park Entertainment, Parkes /Macdonald Productions, Warner Bro., and Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA).
 
Imagenation’s finished projects include feature films include the Bollywood hit “My Name is Khan”, along with “The Crazies”, “Shorts”, “Furry Vengeance”, Peter Weir’s “The Way Back” and Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver”.
 
The company has been striving hard to up the country’s public profile, working closely with the Abu Dhabi Film Commission and the government-supported Middle East International Film Festival (Abu Dhabi Film Festival) in the capital.
 
Some insiders even say that it was Imagenation’s credibility that has seen the film fest boast A-list celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda, Frieda Pinto, Antonio Banderas, Ralph Fiennes and many more.
 
Deepwater disaster
 
The movie will once again bring to light the tragedy behind the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which flowed for three months, making it the biggest marine disaster in history.
 
On April 20 last year, a sea-floor oil gusher resulted in an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig, killing 11 men who were working on the platform and injured 17 others.
 
Finally on July 15, nearly three months later, the gushing wellhead was capped, but not before it released around 4.9 million barrels of crude oil.
 
The spill caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats in the Gulf of Mexico, almost destroying its fishing and tourism industry.
 
Last month, a research team investigation reported oil on the bottom of the seabed, which was not degrading. The disaster control continues.