Accompanied by 15 partners (institutions, companies and film festivals), Arab Cinema Center (ACC) sets off at the 75th edition of Cannes Film Fesival, with numerous activities that include screenings, awards for film projects, discussion panels and Happy Hours.
The partners who join ACC at the Festival include: (in alphabetical order): Arab Radio & Television (ART) (Saudi Arabia), Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) (Egypt), El Gouna Film Festival (Egypt), Film Clinic (Egypt), Film Lab: Palestine (Palestine), IEFTA (Monaco), Iraqi Cinema (Iraq), Lagoonie Film Production (Egypt), MAD Solutions (Egypt, UAE, Lisbon), NEOM (Saudi Arabia), Telescope Film (USA), The Film Verdict website (USA), The Imaginarium Films (Jordan) The Royal Film Commission (Jordan), and Tripoli Film Festival (Lebanon).
During the events held on the sidelines of Cannes, ACC will also announce the winners of the 6th Critics Awards for Arab Films (nominees were announced previously). In parallel to the awards ceremony, ACC will present the Achievement Award for Film Critics to an Arab film critic and a foreign one, in appreciation of their inspiring careers in film criticism.
ACC will also reveal its 15th edition of the Arab Cinema Magazine, which includes the 101 Most Influential Personalities in the Arab Film Industry (Cannes 101), 75 Years of Palestinian Cinema, and Women in Film Industry campaigns.
Partners of Arab Cinema Center will launch intensive activities. As part of Cannes Next, Neom will give a keynote, on May 21, about the shooting locations in the Arab world. Neom is the first of its kind futuristic city in Saudi Arabia. With practical and breath-taking locations, highly competitive production incentives and a seasoned team of industry production professionals, it offers a center for entertainment and artistic creativity with focus on films, TV series, games and digital publishing.
IEFTA will organize screenings that shed light on refugees worldwide. Followed by a Q&A session with the film’s directors and the UN representatives, the first screening will be held on Saturday, May 21, while the second one will be on Sunday, May 22.
Organized by the Saudi Film Commission Conference, Producer and Screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy (Film Clinic) will participate in a panel about Arab cinema on May 21. Moderated by Film Analyst Liz Shackleton, the panel will also include Producer, Director and Writer Aymen Khoja and Producer, Director and Writer Lotfy Nathan.
In collaboration with European Film Promotion, Arab Cinema Center organizes interactive sessions with filmmakers from the Arab world and Europe on Saturday, May 21. In addition to that, ACC will hold a Happy Hour for festival’s guests on Wednesday, May 18 While, on May 20, Cairo International Film Festival will organize another Happy Hour.
On a parallel note, Many Arab films are set to screen at the Cannes Film Festival. The Official Competition includes Boy of Heaven (Egypt) by Tarik Saleh while the Un Certain Regard section includes The Blue Caftan (Morocco) by Maryam Touzani, Mediterranean Fever (Palestine) by Maha Haj and Harka (Tunisia) by Lotfy Nathan. The Directors' Fortnight features The Dam (Lebanon) by Ali Cherri, Ashkal (Tunisia) by Youssef Chebbi and Under The Fig Trees (Tunisia) by Erige Sehiri while the Premiere section includes Nos Frangins (Algeria) by Rachid Bouchareb.
Additionally, Cannes’ jury committees will include two Arab figures. Tunisian Director Kaouther Ben Hania will preside over the Semaine de la Critique Jury and Egyptian Director Yousry Nasrallah will head the Short Film Jury.
