Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 6 October 2019 – Viu, a leading entertainment streaming service in the Middle East and North Africa region, received seven awards for its Viu Original “Zodiac” at the NRJ Egypt Radio Ramadan Drama Awards 2019. The ceremony, held at Hilton Dream in Cairo on 1 October 2019, witnessed the presence of some of the region’s most renowned celebrities. Amongst the attendees were Zodiac’s cast and crew.

The supernatural thriller received recognition across seven different categories including Best Series by the Juries, Best Series Viewer’s Choice, Best Screenplay, Best Set Design, and Best Costume Design. In addition, cast members were also recognized; Asmaa Abou El Yazeed for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Ahmed Khaled Saleh for Best Upcoming Actor.

The popular series is an adaptation of the widely read novella, Hazak El Youm, written by the late renowned Egyptian author Ahmed Khalid Tawfiq. Released during Ramadan, Zodiac managed to garner the lion’s share out of 1.8 million votes cast during the month-long voting process. Viu produced the series in line with its vision to empower local talents to tell fresh stories that break the mold of conventional narratives and formats. The storyline follows the predicament of a group of university students as they find themselves the victims of an ancient Egyptian curse that takes their lives one by one in a manner determined by the victim’s zodiac sign.

“We’re honoured to have a VIU Original Zodiac recognized across so many categories by both the NRJ jury and the audience. This comes as a testament to our continuous efforts to create industry defining, consumer engaging content and help develop new aspiring local talent,” said Abe Shady Aboul Naga, General Manager of VIU Middle East. “We look forward to creating more compelling originals that resonate with our gen Z and Millennial audience base. We attribute this success to partnering with leading production houses, like I productions and Al Massa and working with some of the best talent in the market.”

“Throughout the production of Zodiac, we explored a diverse array of themes that are unconventional and new to the region,” said renowned film producer at Al-Massa Art Production, Hesham Abdel Khalek. “To be recognized at the NRJ Egypt Radio Awards for our work on Zodiac is an honour as it reaffirms that the audience in the region are hungry for fresh and unique content. We are excited to be a part of this maturing digital ecosystem with Viu.”

The award-winning Egyptian screenwriter and producer, Mohamed Hefzy from “Film Clinic”, said “I am truly honoured to have received such a recognition at the NRJ Egypt Radio Awards. This award confirms that we have cracked the right success formula of creativity and quality alongside Viu and the brilliant creative team and talent that brought this intriguing story to life. We will continue with our mission to create unique features as a leading production company in the region.”

Viu’s approach to creating originals has always been to work with local talents and tell local stories to a global audience, an approach that has proven successful with our 36 million monthly Viu’ers worldwide.

Viu content can be streamed on www.viu.com and the Viu App. And for regular updates and show announcements, you can follow Viu on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.