Projects

Crossing the Empty Quarter

An ambitious documentary project telling the gripping story of three men battling against the largest sand desert on earth.

In 1930 an Omani, Sheikh Saleh bin Khalut and an Englishman Bertram Thomas made the first recorded crossing of the Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter – the vast, arid wilderness at the heart of Arabia.

Now three men, two Omani explorers and a Briton, take on the challenge to recreate that journey and walk from Salalah in Oman to Doha in Qatar – a journey of more than 1,200 kilometers across one of the most dangerous places in the world.

It’s a terrifying challenge. They battle over giant dunes and through vicious sandstorms as they search constantly for wells with their water supplies running dangerously low. Can they make it or will sickness, fatigue and injury defeat them?

Filming was carried out in demanding conditions with cameras following the team throughout their 49-day desert crossing. There was extensive aerial filming.

The project also involved producing videos for use at lectures, events and exhibitions.

1 x 67-minute Film

3 x 5-minute event videos

Languages: English and Arabic

International version

A revised, shorter version of the film was produced for the international market, including extensive historic archive of the 1930 expedition.

1 x 55m Film

Strategic Oman

A special commission from the Oman Ministry of Foreign Affairs to produce a multi lingual promotional film explaining the strategic importance of the Sultanate of Oman.

The project involved extensive shooting across Oman in sometimes hard to access locations such as the Strait of Hormuz.

1 x 5 minute video.

Languages: English, Russian, Chinese, French and Japanese.

The Al Biruni Library

The archive of the Abu Rayhan Al Biruni Institute in Tashkent, Uzbekistan is one of the most important collections in the world of historical manuscripts from the golden age of Islamic thought and learning.

To mark the opening of a new library building for the Institute, made possible by the support of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, the late Sultan of Oman, Lingua Franca produced a film and a commemorative book.

The film highlights some of the key works in the collection and shows how the Institute will now be able to advance its work using the improved facilities in the new building.

The book captures the official opening of the new library by His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, who succeeded His Majesty Sultan Qaboos upon his death in January 2020.

The project also involved producing videos for the opening ceremony and for permament display in the Institute.

1 x 18-minute film
1 x 10 minute event video
1 x 5 minute AV display
28-page book.

Languages: English and Arabic.

Jewel of Muscat

Jewel of Muscat was an ambitious project spanning more than five years.

It began with two films for National Geographic telling the story of the Jewel of Muscat – a living monument to Oman’s proud maritime heritage.

Based on the wreck of a 9th Century treasure ship, Jewel is an accurate reconstruction of the ships that worked the trade routes between Oman and the Far East more than 1,000 years ago.

The first film tells the story of the challenge to design and build the ship, rediscovering ancient ship building techniques and using only traditional materials. Then it follows the struggle to launch the ship in a desperate race against time with disaster threatening to destroy the ship the team have spent a year building.

The second film tells the story of her epic three-month voyage across the Indian Ocean. We see the crew survive scorching calms and battle through terrifying storms, strong enough to break her masts, before they finally reach Singapore to arrive in triumph.

A website was created to provide daily updates on the construction of Jewel and to provide background information. During the voyage daily photo and ship’s log updates, relayed by satellite, were delivered via the website.

The website also offered specially developed education materials to encourage schools to learn from the story of Jewel.

Later stages of the project involved producing films on the many events staged to celebrate the Jewel project climaxing in two films for the event staged at the Diplomatic Club in Muscat.

This event also saw the launch of a book about Jewel’s voyage (including a dual language audio book version).

Two 45 minute films, six 10 minute films and one 28 minute film.

Interactive website – regularly updated.

128-page book and audio book.

Commemorative Blu-Ray and booklet

Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Shabab Oman II

A 3-year-project telling the story of the construction and maiden voyage of Shabab Oman II – the spectacular clipper ship commissioned for the Royal Navy of Oman as a sail training ship.

Throughout the project, regular visits were made to shipyards in Romania and the Netherlands to capture key moments in the story, including extensive use of time lapse cameras.

The project also involved extensive filming at sea, including complex and potentially risky aerial shoots. The film was shot on the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean sea and the Sea of Oman, sometimes in severe weather.

Extensive use was also made of miniature cameras to allow access to difficult and dangerous locations, such as high up in the masts of Shabab Oman II.

During the construction phase special videos were produced for showing at key events such as the naming ceremony.

A complete photographic record was also made throughout the construction and maiden voyage allowing the publication of a richly illustrated book, accompanied by text provided by Lingua Franca. The book is used as a presentation gift for honoured visitors to the ship.

1 x 60-minute film

3 x 5-minute event films

Hard-back presentation book

Languages: Arabic and English.

Oman et la Mer

Oman et la Mer was a multi-faceted project commissioned to accompany a major exhibition staged at the French National Maritime Museum in Paris, France.

As well as producing a 55-minute documentary it required creating a website, two books and numerous audio visual displays for the exhibition. It also involved staging and recording a spectacular event to mark the opening of the exhibition.

The 60-minute documentary, shot in France and Oman, is a journey of exploration through Oman’s maritime past. Through careful research, Lingua Franca traced the last surviving relative of a key figure in France’s maritime history and followed him as he traced his ancestor’s footsteps on the journey he made through Oman in the 1830s.

To accompany the exhibition, Lingua Franca also produced a website and a richly illustrated catalogue (in French and Arabic), with a carefully researched text detailing Oman’s maritime history.

For the exhibition itself, we produced a series of audio visual displays, including two interactive games.

The opening of the exhibition was marked by a spectacular ceremony involving the unveiling of a traditional Omani boat in the fountains in front of the Eiffel Tower. Lingua Franca provided live coverage of the ceremony on large display screens and a permanent video record of the event, using material from time lapse and crane cameras.

We also shot high quality stills of the opening ceremony which were used to produce a large format photo book.

1 x 55 minute documentary

1 x 25 minute record of opening ceremony

6 x Audiovisual displays

Website

2 x books

Outward Bound Oman

A series of four films explaining how Outward Bound Oman uses the country’s spectacular landscapes to unlock young peoples’ potential.

The films involved extensive aerial filming to capture the beauty of Oman’s mountains and deserts.

We worked closely with the client to ensure that key messages were communicated clearly and effectively.

4 x 4 minute videos

Languages: Arabic and English

Condé Nast conference

Lingua Franca was commissioned to prepare a video for a presentation to the Condé Nast, Mindful Luxury Conference to accompany the keynote address by H.E. Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi, Secretary General, Oman Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As well as scripting the speech on “The Characteristics of Oman” we drew on our extensive archive to illustrate its key themes in a dramatic way.

1 x 10 minute event video

L’un pour l’autre

Lingua Franca was commissioned to produce English subtitles for a French drama about a young football star learning to cope with setbacks.

The project involved careful translation to produce easy to read subtitles that captured the spirit of the colloquial language and sporting slang that featured in the film.

Fils de

Another subtitle commission for Lingua Franca and another translation challenge. This time to produce English subtitles for a French drama short about a young man haunted by the memory of his dead father, featuring rising star Anthony Bajan, named best actor at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2018.

We took great care to produce subtitles that conveyed the sometimes violent language used in the film.

Connecting Cultures

Lingua Franca was commissioned to produce a film that captures the human drama of the Connecting Cultures project.

We travelled out into the desert to follow young people from the Arab and Western world as they make a journey of discovery together. We worked hard to capture the trust of the young people so that we could capture key moments as they make discoveries about themselves and each other and cultural misunderstandings melt away under the desert sun.

1 x 22 minutes

Languages: Arabic and English

National Defence College

Lingua Franca was commissioned to provide a video for the Graduation Ceremony at Oman’s elite National Defence College, responsible for training senior officers for important positions in Oman’s defence and political establishment.

On a tight budget and with limited time available, we used our own archive to supplement shooting in and around the College’s new premises, combined with archive accessed from a variety of sources. We opted for a multi screen format to ensure that all branches of Oman’s armed forces were well represented.

UNESCO schools

Lingua Franca was commissioned by the Oman National Commission for UNESCO to produce a film explaining the work of its Associated Schools Programme.

Despite a very tight budget we managed to capture the various activities ASP organises to encourage Omani school students to “Think Globally, Act Locally.”

The film was delivered as an online resource and also as a full packaged DVD.

1 x 15 minute film.

Languages: Arabic and English