A trio of female film and television executives with deep expertise in the Middle East are looking to expand production at Dubai-based Ta Films Shingle after Yemeni-Scottish director Sarah Ishak’s feature debut, The Station, made waves at Cannes.
Ta Films was founded in 2022 by Shivani Pandya Malhotra, who recently stepped down as general manager of the Saudi Red Sea Film Festival, and Sangeeta Desai, former global COO of Fremantle and group CEO of Dubai-based satellite pay TV and streaming service OSN. In 2025, the company took a quantum leap forward by acquiring Screen Project, a Jordan-based production company founded by Nadia Eliewat, who currently serves as CEO and creative producer of Ta Films.
Ta Films’ first production is Yellow Bus, a drama from Middle East-based American director Wendy Bednarz that bowed in Toronto in 2023, about a mother’s quest for justice after an unthinkable tragedy. Next came Ishak’s Yemen-set drama “The Station,” about two sisters who clash over how to protect their younger brother from being forced into an armed group, which was well-received at Cannes Critics Week in May. The film was praised by Variety critic Jay Weisberg as “a long-term female-centered project set in Yemen that is well worth the wait.”
Ta Films’ current mission is to “develop and produce quality film and series content from the MENA region and South Asia,” Pandya Malhotra told Variety. They have six projects in various stages of development and plan to produce two to three films a year, at least at this stage, she added.
Pandya Malhotra also noted that the company intends to select “artistically unique” projects that are “commercially structured, viable, and have international reach.”
On the financing side, they are investing in development, using different financing models for each film, combining locally available soft money, potential co-production opportunities, and fees from broadcasters and streamers.
“The key element is that we want to tell stories from unknown and underrepresented voices, and that we are very, very talent-driven,” she said.
“The great thing about all three of us is that a lot of the local talent knows us,” she continued. “Many of them approached us with very interesting and unique projects.”
Projects currently in Ta Films’ pipeline:
“Drowning” – This drama set in Saudi Arabia is one of two feature film projects by Saudi director Mujtaba Saeed in collaboration with Ta Films. Said, who splits his time between Germany and Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to make his feature film debut later this year, when he begins filming Drowning, about a man determined to execute his murderous father. He has just four days to convince the victim’s heirs to choose the death penalty instead of receiving the “blood money” (diya). Diya is a traditional Islamic legal practice in which a victim’s family agrees to pardon a convicted murderer in exchange for a cash payment.
“Mecca, Berlin” – This is another project in Ta Films’ pipeline that will be directed by Said. The plot focuses on a young man named Yahya, who must travel from Mecca to Berlin for his father’s cancer treatment, comes to terms with past trauma and finds refuge in an encounter with a Syrian refugee nurse.
Pictured above, left to right: Nadia Eliwat, Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Sangeeta Desai.
