Aspiring filmmakers in the UAE will have a chance later this month to learn the craft directly from a working director, as UBE Production stages a hands-on workshop covering everything from initial concept to final edit.
Titled “The Director’s Cut: A Beginner’s Guide to Filmmaking,” the three-hour session runs from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 20 June 2026 at Rove Bur Dubai – Healthcare City, with self-parking available in the basement for attendees who mention the Nikon workshop.
The program is built around the four core stages of production. Pre-production segments will tackle concept development, scriptwriting for a film or commercial shoot, and casting. The cinematography and directing portion moves into shaping a visual vision, planning camera blocking, building a storyboard, and managing lighting and sound.
Participants will also walk through the practical side of execution — the equipment required, scene scheduling, and the specific duties assigned to each member of a production crew. Post-production lessons round out the theory with editing, colour grading, and scoring for film and commercial work.
Rather than keeping the day confined to lectures, organisers have set aside two hours for actual shooting. Attendees will produce a sample commercial — built around an item such as a watch, food, or drinks — alongside a one-minute short film centred on a person, object, or place.
The workshop is pitched at a broad creative audience, including content creators, photographers moving into video work, and anyone drawn to cinematic storytelling. Through worked examples and direct guidance, the session aims to show how directors and cinematographers turn raw ideas into finished visual work.
Leading the day is Mark Darwin Ingeniero, known publicly as “Markus Engr,” a Filipino filmmaker and content creator based in the UAE. He serves as director at UBE Production, the company he co-founded in July 2021 with fellow artists Kai, Lloyd, Freda, and Unico, and which has competed regularly at the Emirates Film Festival.
Ingeniero’s path to directing ran through several creative roles. He first gained attention on TikTok in 2021, building a following with pandemic-era content that resonated strongly among household workers, and that visibility drew him into the Filipino community circuit across the Emirates. By October of that year he was promoting the Philippine Pavilion “Bangkota” at Dubai Expo 2020 as a TikTok champion, and he later performed his original OFW tribute song “Malaya Ako” at Kalayaan 2022.
Under his direction, UBE Production has assembled a catalogue of festival entries including Val, Shahada, Ekspat, Inar Aro Taka, Takbo, and Abnegasyon. He has described his filmmaking focus as surfacing the underrepresented, real-life stories of overseas Filipino workers — a mission he now channels into developing younger creatives rather than performing himself, having stepped back from singing and acting to concentrate on directing.
