Story first, always
If a frame does not move the story, it does not survive the timeline — however much it cost to shoot.
01 The Studio
We cut for the story, never for the reel.
Sard Films began with a hard drive of short films and a stubborn idea about what a frame is for. A decade on, the idea still runs the room.
We started in 2015 in a rented edit bay in Al Quoz — three friends, one borrowed camera, and more festival rejections than we like to count. What we kept was a rule we still say out loud before every shoot: the audience does not owe us their attention, so every frame has to earn it.
Today Sard Films moves between features, brand films, and documentaries out of Dubai Studio City, with a grading suite we built ourselves. The kit got better; the rule did not move. A shot that does not carry the story is a beautiful shot we will cut.
Sard Films
Scene
14
Roll
A
Take
03
How we hold the cut
One crew, start to grade
The people who plan the shot sit in the grading room. Nothing is thrown over a wall to strangers.
The grade is authored
Color is a decision, not a filter. Every project gets a look built for it, frame by frame.
On time is part of the craft
A film that misses the release is a film nobody sees. We lock dates the way we lock shots.
The people behind the lens
RS
Rana Sabbagh
Founder · Director
YD
Yousef Darwish
Director of Photography
LK
Lina Khoury
Head of Post & Color
TA
Tarek Al Amiri
Executive Producer
MF
Maya Fernandes
Sound & Score
A few reels in
2015
Founded in an Al Quoz edit bay
2018
First feature to a Gulf festival
2021
Moved into Dubai Studio City
2024
Built the in-house grading suite
Next scene
Got a story that needs a screen?
Send the logline first — the shot list is the easy part.