Advanced Media Trading, a distributor of professional broadcast, photo, video and cinema equipment and accessories across the MENA region, returns with CINECommunity during January 15-17, 2026. The biannual digital cinema event is convened in collaboration with the Courtyard Art & Community Centre and in partnership with Analog The Room in honour of the UAE Year of Community and in recognition of the vibrant, thriving and emerging community of creatives across the MENA region.
The three-day event at Advanced Media’s UAE headquarters in Dubai will feature nine digital cinema workshops that cover topics such as cinematic lighting after sundown, DI-film laboratory for the digital age and greening the (UAE) screen one frame at a time. For the first time, half of the workshops will be led by experienced female instructors such as Sarah Winters, Los Angeles–based cinematographer; Zeina Khalil, director of photography based in Cairo; and Nena Ostrogovic, Abu Dhabi’s first sustainable production advisor.
CINECommunity will also welcome back previous instructors such as Fouad Aoun and Nikita Petsa, and introducing the team from Magic Lab, a picture post-production and VFX studio headquartered in Prague.
For this edition, Advanced Media is collaborating with the Courtyard to pay homage to the Dubai landmark. Nestled in Dubai’s Al Quoz district, the Courtyard Art & Community Centre is a pioneering cultural space conceived and built by designer, architect, and photographer Dariush Zandi between 1992 and 1998. Zandi will deliver a seminar on “the importance of community in the creative process” on January 16 in Advanced Media’s premises converted to replicate the famous landscape of Al Quoz's The Courtyard.
CINEcommunity visitors can attend a “Journey Through Camera Evolution and Hands On with All Formats” workshop with Mohammed Kamal, photographer, engineer, and the founder of AnalogTheRoom.
“Cinema, or any other creative production, is inherently collaborative. We wanted to emphasise the importance of community and teamwork," Kaveh Farnam, co-founder and chairperson of Advanced Media Trading, said. "It has always been a mission of Advanced Media to position ourselves as facilitators and supporters. CINECommunity is yet another step towards that."
“I am so glad that Courtyard is becoming a part of CINECommunity because we are all about community.” Dariush Zandi, designer, architect and founder of Courtyard.
Advanced Media opened registration for CINECommunity workshops on December 25, 2025. The free-to-attend workshops are 90 minutes each and conducted in Advanced Media’s showroom and training space. The showroom remains open to the general public from 2-8 pm every day.
