Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around 8 February, with Eid Al Fitr falling in the second week of March. The dates are confirmed only once the crescent is sighted, so treat them as planning markers. A day either way changes nothing. Starting in January changes everything.
Every year we take the same call in the second week of January from a brand that wants a Ramadan film. By then the good crews are booked, permits are queued and the only lever left is budget. This is the timeline that avoids that call.
When is Ramadan 2027 in the UAE?
Astronomical calculations put the start at 8 February 2027, with Eid Al Fitr expected around 9 or 10 March and Eid Al Adha in the middle of May. The UAE authorities confirm each date after the moon sighting, so the plan has to tolerate a day of movement. Campaign assets should be finished and delivered before the end of January, because audiences start looking for offers, menus and plans in the weeks before Ramadan rather than on day one.
Working backwards from 8 February
A single-location brand film takes three to four weeks from brief to delivery, and that is before anyone argues about the script. Multi-location work with talent and Arabic versioning runs longer. Laid against the February start, the calendar looks like this.
| Window | What happens | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| October to mid-November 2026 | Strategy, concept, scripts, media plan | Approvals take longer than production does |
| Mid-November to early December | Casting, locations, permits, wardrobe, call sheets | DFTC filming approval runs three to five working days and sits on the critical path |
| Early to mid-December | The shoot, briefed for the whole campaign | Crews and locations are still available, and prices are normal |
| Mid-December to mid-January | Edit, grade, sound, Arabic versions, cutdowns | Leaves room for two rounds of client changes |
| Mid to late January | Teaser and pre-Ramadan offers live | Demand builds before the month starts |
| 8 February onward | Campaign runs, social posts against the calendar | Daily rhythm of iftar, suhoor and family timing |
| Early March | Eid Al Fitr creative | Cut from the December shoot, not a second production |
One shoot, not three
The expensive part of a film is getting crew, talent and location into the same place on the same day. Once that is paid for, another set-up costs a fraction of the first. A Ramadan brief that is scoped properly produces the teaser, the hero film, the social cutdowns and the Eid wrap from one block in December. Scoped badly, it produces one film in January and a panic in March. The arithmetic behind that is the same one we set out in shooting twelve months of content in three days.
What a Ramadan campaign usually needs
- A hero film. Sixty seconds or less for most brands, built around one idea, not a list of offers
- Cutdowns. Thirty, fifteen and six seconds for paid media, planned at script stage so the coverage exists
- Vertical versions. Stories and reels in 9:16, composed for the frame, not cropped down to it
- Arabic. Subtitles at minimum, and a voice version where the audience expects one
- Daily social. Timing posts, greetings, menu and offer frames that run off a template system
- An Eid wrap. Shot alongside the Ramadan material while the set is still standing
What late planning costs you
Rush rates are the visible part. The rest is quieter. In January the crews, talent and locations worth having are already committed, permits sit behind everyone else’s applications, and the schedule gives you one shoot day where the script wanted two. You end up filming what is available instead of what you wrote, and the campaign carries that compromise for a month in front of your largest audience of the year.
If you are planning now
October and November are the right weeks for this. Send an outline of what you are launching, who it is for and any fixed dates, and we will come back with a scope and a shoot window. We produce the film, the stills and the social set from one production block, and run the month itself through marketing and content.