Dubai's MForMedia teams with Arcana Labs on AI-made shows for MENA
Dubai production house MForMedia has struck a strategic partnership with Arcana Labs to make film and television across the Middle East and North Africa with AI tools.
The pact was reported as an exclusive by Deadline on 30 September 2026. It puts Arcana Labs software into MForMedia's production workflows, covers Arabic-language co-productions, meaning shows jointly made by two companies, and includes staff training.
The stated goal is to build AI-native production capability in the MENA region. AI-native here means productions designed around AI tools from the start, rather than adding them at the end.
Unnamed co-produced titles are already in development. They will come from MForMedia and Arcana Studios, which is described as the production arm of Arcana Labs, with a focus on original content for MENA audiences.
MForMedia staff will take a five-day workshop on AI-native production. MForMedia is led by co-founders and managing partners Ralph Matar and Khalil Homeissy, and Arcana Labs is led by chief executive Jonathan Yunger.
The deal follows a change in leadership and direction at MForMedia. Television veteran Ziad Kebbi joined as managing director two weeks before the report. The company also said it was pivoting away from a past focused on production services, where a company is hired to make shows for others, toward AI production, original content and IP ownership, meaning holding the rights to its own ideas.
MForMedia is known for Arabic versions of Carpool Karaoke and The X Factor. Its other credits include the Mahzooz Lottery Show, Eisha Sah, Celebrity Escape Room and Celebrity Advice Bureau.
Arcana Labs is a much younger company. It emerged from stealth in mid-April 2025 with $5.5 million in funding, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal, with part of that money earmarked for its digital studio, Arcana AI. Arcana is represented by Paradigm Talent Agency.
What makes this stand out is the combination. One partner brings local production slots and formats. The other brings software and a studio model built around AI. For viewers, this means new Arabic-language shows made with those tools are now in the pipeline, though no titles or release dates have been announced.
