Get the latest gossip
How Variety’s International Achievement in Film Honoree Tarak Ben Ammar Built a Film Business From Scratch and Plans to Boost Saudi Arabia Moviemaking
How Variety’s International Achievement in Film honoree Tarak Ben Ammar built a film business from scratch and sets plans for Saudi Arabia cinema.
An infallible dealmaker, resourceful problem-solver and filmmaker-friendly bon vivant, Tarak Ben Ammar has played a pivotal, yet often behind-the-scenes role, in building cultural and cinematic bridges between Europe, the U.S. and the Arab world in last 50 years. As he ventured deeper into the entertainment industry, Ben Ammar became something of a “billionaire whisperer.” Some of the powerful (and sometimes divisive) figures he’s befriended, did business with and advised over the years include Rupert Murdoch, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and Vivendi boss Vincent Bolloré, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al Waleed and even Michael Jackson, whom he managed in the 1990s. Brought up across Europe, Africa and America, Ben Ammar came from a bourgeois family in Tunisia — his father was a prominent lawyer and diplomat, while his aunt was married to former Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba — but he’s a self-made man in the movie industry.
Or read this on Variety
