A trio of female film and TV industry execs — with plenty of expertise in the Middle East space — is looking to expand the output of the Dubai-based Ta Films shingle after making a splash in Cannes with Yemeni-Scottish director Sara Ishaq’s debut feature “The Station.”
Ta Films was set up in 2022 by Shivani Pandya Malhotra, who recently stepped down as general manager of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival, and Sangeeta Desai, a former global COO at Fremantle and Group CEO at Dubai-based satellite pay-TV and streaming service OSN. In 2025, they made a quantum leap by buying Jordan-based production company Screen Project, founded by Nadia Eliewat, who now serves as Ta Films’ CEO and creative producer.
Ta Films’ first feature was the Toronto-bowing 2023 drama “Yellow Bus” by Middle East-based U.S. director Wendy Bednarz, which follows a mother’s quest for justice after suffering an unthinkable tragedy. Then came Ishaq’s Yemen-set drama “The Station,” about sisters clashing over how to protect their young brother from mandatory enlistment in an armed group, that in May premiered positively from Cannes Critics’ Week. The film has been praised by Variety critic Jay Weissberg as “a long-gestating, female-centered project set in Yemen that’s well worth the wait.”
Ta Films’ mission is now to “develop and produce elevated film and series content from the MENA region, as well as South Asia,” Pandya Malhotra told Variety. They have a half-dozen projects in various stages of development and plan to shepherd two to three films per year, at least at this stage, she added.
Pandya Malhotra also pointed out that the company intends to pick projects with an “artistically distinctive” stamp that are “commercially structured and viable, with a nice international reach.”
In terms of financing, they are investing in development and using a different financing model for each film, drawing on a combination of soft money available in the region, potential co-production opportunities,and commissions from broadcasters and streamers.
“The key element is that we want to tell stories from unknown, underrepresented voices, and that we are very, very, talent-led,” she noted.
“The great thing about the three of us, is that a lot of the regional talent knows us,” she continued. “So many of them have been approaching us with some very interesting and unique projects.”
Projects currently in the Ta Films pipeline:
“Drowning” – This Saudi-set drama is one of two feature film projects that Saudi director Mujtaba Saeed has in the works with Ta Films. Saeed – who divides his time between Germany and Saudi Arabia – will make his feature film debut later this year when shooting is expected to start on “Drowning” about a man determined to have his murderous father executed. He has only four days to convince the victim’s heir to choose the death penalty instead of taking “blood money” (diya), the traditional Islamic legal practice where the victim’s family agrees to pardon a convicted killer in exchange for a cash payment.
“Mecca, Berlin” – This is the other project in the Ta Films pipeline to be directed by Saeed. The plot focuses on a young man named Yahya, who must travel from Mecca to Berlin for his father’s cancer treatment, confronting past traumas and finding refuge in an encounter with a Syrian refugee nurse. “Mecca, Berlin” is being developed with leading Middle East broadcaster MBC, for which Saeed has directed several shorts.
Pictured above, from left to right: Nadia Eliewat, Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Sangeeta Desai.
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