Charbel Aouad and Rita El Hachem run Stoked, an award winning production company in the UAE and Lebanon. Each has 20 years of experience in production in the Middle East, Gulf countries, Asia, Europe and South Africa.
With a background as a cinematographer and filmmaker, Charbel brings in to the work a valuable creative input and to company a continuous drive to deliver on high aesthetics.
Having started servicing jobs exclusively for friends such as Academy, the word got out and soon they were receiving requests from other companies in Europe and the USA. Although facilitating other companies’ projects was not initially a part of Stoked main activity, soon enough they saw the need to have a division dedicated to that.
They also saw the need to present the real picture of the Filming world in the Middle East. For those who already know, the Middle East offers a multitude of locations and experienced crew, and cost advantages. For those who are not familiar with filming in the ME, delegates at FOCUS are invited to a fast track presentation.