In Conversation: APEX Middle East with Marwan Rahbani
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Marwan Rahbani
President/CEO
Rahbani Productions
Marwan studied music composition under the tutelage of Master Hagob Arslanian. After learning the aesthetics of dramatic arts with the late Andre Gedeon, Marwan moved to Paris and Los Angeles to complete a course in film direction. He soon immersed himself in theater direction, working with the late legend Assi Rahbani in several musical plays of the Rahbani brothers in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Olympia (Paris) and London Palladium (UK). He established Rahbani Productions in Lebanon in 1977, in Dubai 1989 and in Erbil 2014.
What, in your opinion, is the biggest up and coming trend for IFE?
Our industry is progressing very fast on the technical side and also on the passengers side, and passengers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. From their mobile phone, they can be connected to the whole world and have access to the latest gadgets – of course they will anticipate to find the latest technology onboard the latest aircrafts. I believe airlines are aware of this and they are developing their systems more and more. From our side, as content providers, we should upgrade our services, be more creative and follow the trend. We will have more channels, choices, variations and styles of entertainment. Call it a library, archive or a bank of movies and TV programs where you can Google and find your choice. It’s kind of an “Airline Google.”
Is there an APEX Middle East talk you’re most looking forward to?
We are planning to converse with our partners and colleagues about the best way to develop our Arabic product, mainly for our Arab passengers who have different languages and dialects and who are from different nationalities, backgrounds, age groups, cultural levels etc. Arabic programs are not a choice anymore, they are a must, and they should be onboard all airlines – especially the ones who fly to the Middle East. We have four major areas in the Arab world (the Levant, the Gulf, Egypt & Sudan and North Africa) each country has a different dialect, and if we include Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, a different language, too. All the passengers from these areas should find their movies and programs onboard.
“Each aircraft is a mobile TV station offering hundreds of channels, covering all tastes, age groups, cultures and nationalities.”
What can the airline industry learn from the entertainment industry, and vice versa?
In-flight entertainment is not a luxury anymore, it is a necessity. Both the airline industry and the entertainment industry need each other. Can you imagine flying for so many hours without this “magic screen” entertaining you during the whole flight? I believe that both industries complement each other. Each aircraft is a mobile TV station offering hundreds of channels, covering all tastes, age groups, cultures and nationalities.
What was the most interesting flight you ever took?
I think it was an Emirates flight, from Dubai to Europe. At the time, maybe 15 years back, I discovered the huge amount of programming choices and the amount of channels they had onboard, from video to audio.
For a long time I was searching for the famous ballet Firebird, composed by Stravinsky in 1910 and conducted by himself in 1912. I could only find it onboard Emirates and that was a big surprise for me!
Favorite Arabic films that have seen success on IFE programming?
Lots of Arabic movies have seen success on IFE channels. From the classical era, to recent and new movies. Also TV series are having big success on flights, especially when we program a top series as a world premiere, allowing passengers to watch it simultaneously with its first run on TV channels. For example, in the Holy month of Ramadan, we programmed a series of 30 episodes of a new TV show. Passengers had the possibility to watch the full series on long flights, while their family back home was watching one episode per day!
Don’t miss Marwan at APEX Middle East March 24th for his session on content for the region.