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Qatar Insurance Company – Desert Dream

Our brief was to make a film which would help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Qatar Insurance Company.


Our brief was to make a film which would help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Qatar Insurance Company. Working with Doha based agency Grow, our solution was to make a film that connected not only with QIC’s past, but also its future. Director Mark Lediard came up with a concept that blended 1960’s Doha with a vision of Doha in 2064. The film was also significant, in that it offered the opportunity to interview and capture the memories of a generation of QIC staff who had been there since the early days, and who were nearing retirement.

We set ourselves the task of shooting the whole thing in four days, which included the futuristic scenes, the dramatic recreations of 1964 and the present day interviews and footage of QIC headquarters.

The Doha W hotel provided the location for the future city, where our Qatari wakes up to the news that QIC is now 100 years old, from his “Minority Report” styled data screens. A flashback sequence takes us back to old Doha, shot in Souq Waqif and at the Sheikh Faisal museum, with replica city walls, period cars and a dramatised recreation of the original QIC offices.

The crew was a blend of UK and locals, with Si Bell as DoP and Tom Finch on focus. The local guys were great, and although there was a bit of last minute running around to finalise some arrangements, the end result is pretty impressive.