To accompany it in international film festivals and markets in 2017, promoting Arab cinema, Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has added the Emirati company Advanced Media to its list of partners. This comes a few days after revealing the news on joining the Festival Internacional de Cine Latino Árabe (LatinArab International Film Festival) and the LatinArab Coproduction Forum to the list.
Abdallah Elchami, Managing Partner of MAD Solutions in the GCC; the company which organizes ACC, comments on this step saying, "We are honoured to welcome on board the leading authority on everything to do with the hardware of film and entertainment business in the region. With Advanced Media as an ACC Partner, we will work together to build on their phenomenal success in the region and explore new ways of providing the best to our industry."
Kaveh Farnam, CEO of Advanced Media, also comments, "In Advanced Media, our main focus and concern as the largest photo/video and cinema equipment supplier in the Arab world, is not sales as much as it is to bring solutions to the industry. Our alliance with ACC will give us the opportunity to get closer to Arab cinematographers to better acquaint ourselves with them, understand their needs and support the booming Arab cinema industry via our equipment and production support."
Advanced Media is one of the Arab world's largest suppliers of broadcast, professional video and photography equipment and accessories. Headquartered and founded in Dubai, UAE in 2002, Advanced Media conducts business all over the Arab world and is engaged in every aspect of the broadcast, professional video and photography industry including sales, consultancy, installation, training, service and maintenance.
The Arab Cinema Center (ACC), organized by MAD Solutions for the third year, is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema as it provides the filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with their counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes. ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. The Center's activities vary between film market main wings, introduction and networking sessions for Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, as well as meetings with international organizations and festivals, and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets. Furthermore, newsletter subscription is available on ACC's website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on ACC's activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating in festivals, exclusive news on Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from ACC partners and their future projects.
ACC also launched an English-language Arab Cinema Guide, available on its website, which is a comprehensive cinematic guide that comprises a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside of the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers' access to international markets and help film industry representatives to easily identify Arab film productions.
Since the beginning of 2017, the ACC has made ten stops at international festivals and markets. The festivals attended are the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR), Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), Beirut Cinema Platform (BCP) held within the Beirut Cinema Days, Istanbul Film Festival, Tripoli Film Festival, 34th WIPO SCCR in Geneva, Cannes Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Eurasia International Film Festival, and Festival del film Locarno.
