Part of the largest film production ever to shoot in Qatar, hundreds of cast and crew for French Director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Arab epic, “Black Gold” are arriving in Doha this week. The film, co-produced by the Doha Film Institute and Tarak ben Ammar’s Quinta Communications, stars Antonio Banderas, Taher Rahim and Frida Pinto and has come to town to shoot scenes in the Qatari desert.

Annaud first came to Doha in 2009 to scout for locations, and settled on two – Sealine and Zikrit. DFI caught up with Annaud during his scouting:

Four weeks of shooting the film, including major desert battle scenes set in 1930’s Arabia, will begin February 3rd and will involve hundreds of crew, extras, camels and horses. The scenes will include parts played by local actors who won their roles at the 2010 Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

DFI will be reporting from set on this website, Twitter and Facebook to give you full access to what is happening. Here’s what’s happened so far: