EXCLUSIVE: Emirati director-actor Abdullah Aljunaibi’s Greenlight Films is planning a slate of three genre films, kicking off with action thriller Run, which is scheduled to start shooting in March, 2014.  

The film revolves around a gang of young Emirati boys who lead a fun-filled life until one day they stumble upon a hard disk that contains a video of an Emirati boy being stabbed. The cast will comprise newcomers and Aljunaibi will also star.  

Greenlight’s next two projects – Promise and Wishlist – are a horror film and love story respectively. Aljunaibi is also working on a short film The Tunnel, scheduled to shoot in January, which tells the story of a retired teacher who opens a flower shop in a subway tunnel to see his students passing by.

Aljunaibi aims to make commercially viable features. “I don’t want to make films that just travel to film festivals but release in the UAE and rest of the Arab world,” Aljunaibi said. “I want to tell gripping local stories in an international style without using any metaphors that are hard to understand.”

Aljunaibi co-directed short film The Path which won best director in the Muhr Emirati competition at DIFF 2012. His latest short Bahar is in the Muhr Emirati competition at DIFF this year.