TWELVE-MONTH HIGHLIGHT(S):
50 METERS (2025): A. A. produced Yomna Khattab's documentary feature, which premiered at the 22nd CPH:DOX.
Multiple Cannes Titles: A.A. Films co-produced two of the features competing in the 78th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain
Regard — AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY by Morad Mostafa and ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA by Arab and Tarzan Nasser. Amer also
wrote Rakan Mayasi’s THE PASSPORT, which is featured at La Fabrique Cinéma.
HAMLET FROM THE SLUMS: Amer is gearing up to produce Ahmed Fawzi-Saleh’s latest awaited project.
BLACKOUT: Ahmed El-Zogby’s short film is another A. A. co-production, which premiered in the official competition at Finland’s
Tampere Film Festival last March.
Across Africa: Angèle Diabang’s feature SO LONG A LETTER premiered last February at the FESPACO Film Festival, marking the
first Senegalese-Egyptian co-production.
INTERVIEW:
What advice would you give to ensure more successful Arab co-productions? What are the best ways to bring together money, talents, and partners from across the region while still telling authentic stories that are culturally specific?
The key, in my opinion, is to focus on authentic stories that have an emotional core. Go for co-productions across the region, not only to seek funds but also to organically get talents together that fit the project.
Spain had its Money Heist moment, and South Korea made a global splash with Squid Game… How close is the Arab World to creating its own global streaming hit?
All those big hits in a way are influenced by American cinema and TV, but they somehow maintained a local authenticity. We need to find a way to tell those international audiences that we have something they cannot find anywhere else. They do not need copies of Hollywood films.
Egyptian films of all genres not only keep breaking local box office records, but they also are attracting large audiences in the KSA too. When will this new generation of commercially-focused Arab cinema achieve success outside the Arab-speaking world? What will it take for a global blockbuster to occur?
Stories are the most important. We often look at budgets, effects, big stars... What will take us there is a captivating story.
