Netflix and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) have teamed up to sponsor five Arab women filmmakers. Netflix will deliver a one-time grant of $250,000 to female producers and directors in the Arab world through the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity. The latter was established in early 2021 to increase opportunities for people from underrepresented communities to have their voices heard and to close skill gaps with training programmes where they are required.

“We are committed to telling stories about and by women across our slate in the Arab world,” wrote Nuha El Tayeb, Netflix’s director of content acquisitions for MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) and Turkey, in a blog post announcing the initiative. “The Arab world has a long-standing history of women in entertainment, and we’ve had incredible successes and firsts from the region that we’re all very proud of. But to give more people a chance to see their lives reflected on screen, we need more women behind and in front of the camera.”

“More and more Arab women filmmakers are creating moving images that have the power to shed light on the realities of the region,” said AFAC Executive Director Rima Mismar. “This second collaboration with Netflix, this time to support women in the field of cinema, complements perfectly AFAC’s mission to promote diversity of voices and narratives.”

Netflix has licensed outstanding work from female producers over the years and is collaborating with more regional storytellers to bring their stories to the forefront. The Fund for Creative Equity’s support is just one more way to broaden women’s viewpoints and, as a result, bring fresh and real material to regional audiences.