John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentLola Arabia and Dubai’s Charisma Group are readying Agustí Villaronga’s “Arabian Aroma” and Pau Miró’s “Lost Symphony,” the first two titles in a 12-pic production alliance unveiled during the Berlin.
FestivalBoth movies are in pre-production, budgeted around $6 million and feature women “who passionately set themselves on a mission,” the partners announced.
The films will be in English and Arabic, and are scheduled to roll around fall 2022. They target both international audiences and, as their local market, the Gulf states.Reteaming Lola Arabia head Andrés Vicente Gómez and the two main creatives behind “Born a King,” a big period drama which scored heavily at Saudi Arabian cinema theaters, “Arabian Aroma” is penned by British scriptwriter Henry Fitzherbert.
It turns on Virginia, a British perfumer in her 70s who has lost her sense of smell. She sets out with her assistant, Basmah, a twentysomething Saudi, on a quest to follow the footsteps of travel writer Barbara Toy, who travelled the ancient Incense Route in the 1960s.
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