Shankaboot: the first Arabic web series from the streets and rooftops of Beirut

"Shankaboot" is the name of the world’s first Arabic-language web drama, directed by Amin Dora and produced by Katia Saleh, in association with the BBC World Service Trust.
From the streets and rooftops of Beirut it comes delivering the stories, and adventures of Suleiman el Shankaboot, the king of delivery, Ruwaida a star wanna be and Chandi the best friend and how one wrong delivery changed their lives.

"In the first 10 episodes, we are introducing lovely, interesting characters that young people can identify with," producer Katia Saleh told The Times. "Down the line, [we'll] introduce other topics that would appeal to Arab youth and are not brought up in the mainstream media, something appropriate for the Web."
"It's an interactive project. You don't just watch it, it's a whole interactive culture we are trying to create" she said."There are limits on TV and cinema, especially in the Arab world, there are a lot of topics that are censored,our aim is to break those barriers in an online series."

"The Production of the first season of Shankaboot took place in Beirut in December, 2009, largely in the area of Burj-Hammoud, a densely populated town on the Eastern borders of Beirut. The second season of Shankaboot was filmed in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. The third season was filmed again in Beirut during July 2010.
One of the aims of the series is to present Beirut life and the life in Lebanon in the most realistic style. In keeping with that aim, the show's creators cast actors with little to no prior acting experience for a naturalistic acting style rarely seen on Arabic television."
Shankaboot success:
Less than two months after the beginning broadcasted, the 11 episodes of season 1,have been viewed over 24,000 times on YouTube and the site received nearly 30,000 visits. And also over 17000 fans on Facebook ans 1060 followers on Twitter.
Recently, this web series won the Best Web Series Award in the International Film Festival (TV - Multimedia – Cinema) in Geneva. Ten other series from the United States, South America and Europe were competing too.
Shankaboot is a digital experiment in storytelling made for the Web, and its success could usher in a new genre of serial drama in the Arab world.