Ayman Jamal won acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival last year when his movie Bilal – about the life of historical figure Bilal Ibn Rabah, an African slave who lived in the Arabian Peninsula – became the first animated feature film produced in the UAE.
However, the director did not actually begin his professional life in film, but in banking and finance, working as a personal finance manager then senior product manager at Jeddah-based National Commercial Bank. It was not until 2006 that he moved into media production as founder of Saudi media production firm Visualizit. From there, he worked at a series of production outfits, in 2013 founding Dubai-based Barajoun Entertainment, an animation and visual effects studio and the first of its kind in the Middle East.
The entrepreneur has said the inspiration for his work comes from combining his passion for storytelling with his interest in new technologies. He is currently working on his next feature film.
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