The documentary film project Into the Mist by director George Tarabay has won the MAD Solutions
Award that is offered by the company to the participating film projects at the 7th Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, within the Doc Post Production Platform. The award offers the film promotional and distribution services in the Arab world.
Into the Mist also won the Ronald Hugh Award (Slipperies Music Production), which is presented in cooperation with Palestinian oud player Imad Al-Tamimi. The award offers the film 10 minutes of original soundtrack music for the film.
The film follows two bakers who work in the same bakery in Beirut - one is Lebanese and the other is a newly arrived Syrian refugee. This film provides a fresh look at the current situation in Lebanon during the Syrian civil war, a time in which Syrian refugees constitute 30% of the total Lebanese population. This documentary focuses on the day-to-day survival and the clash of cultures through the lives of three protagonists and their families, in the course of four years.
George Tarabay is a project developer at the Division of Audio Visual Arts of Notre Dame University, program executive of NDU International Film Festival, and program executive of the Batroun Mediterranean Film Festival. Tarabay is also the director and producer of many short films and documentaries, as well as the founder of Pellicule Productions, a newly established production house of young talents.
It is worth mentioning that Maher Diab, Creative Director and Co-founder of MAD Solutions and Arab Cinema Center (ACC), was selected as one of the jury members of the Doc Post Production Platform.
This is the third year in a row that MAD Solutions presents its Marketing and Distribution Award in the Arab world to one of the winning film projects participating in the MAFF Market Forum (MMF), held as part of the 7th Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden. Last year, the documentary project Tiny Souls by Jordanian director Dina Naser won the same award, which was also given to the documentary Room for a Man by Lebanese director Anthony Chidiac at the 2015 edition of the festival.
The award offered by MAD Solutions comes as part of the company's strategy to support the Arab film industry through its different production stages internationally and within the Arab region and to promote them on the long run. The company previously offered similar awards for winning projects at the Open Doors initiative held as part of the 67th Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, and at the Final Cut in Venice workshop held within the Venice International Film Festival.
Organized by MAD Solutions, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), which operates 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. The 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 now available on the ACC's website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on the ACC's activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from the ACC partners and their future projects.
The 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 16 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, the 34th WIPO SCCR in Geneva, Cannes Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Eurasia International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, the Film and Television Careers Connection (FTCC), the San Sebastian International Film Festival, Malmö Arab Film Festival, and the Cape Town International Film Festival.
