Currently, the partners of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), the Karama Human Rights Film Festival and the 612 Think Factory, are taking on extensive activities as the festival concludes its preparations for the launch of its third edition on 17 July at the Empire Cinemas - Metropolis Sofil in Ashrafyeh. This year, the festival will screen 17 films under the theme of "Freedom of Expression".
In May, the Women-to-Women project "Ta2 Marbouta", executed by 612 Think Factory in collaboration with Umam Documentation and Research, won a grant provided by the "Women of the South Mediterranean and Audiovisual Industry" project, which aims to enhance the skills of women working in the audiovisual industry in seven southern Mediterranean countries: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia, and contribute to sustainable development and cultural diversity by improving the image of women in filmmaking.
The Women-to-Women project "Ta2 Marbouta" is designed to create women's lobby groups to adopt a film statement that sets guidelines for the portrayal of female and male characters. In the framework of the grant, the 612 Think Factory and Umam Documentation and Research will receive a one-year training course in Beirut and Amman on women in the audio-visual industry.
In addition to being one of the partners of the Arab Cinema Center, the Karama Film Festival for Human Rights and the 612 Think Factory are among the founding members of the ANHAR Project (The Arab Network for Human Rights Film Festivals).
The Karama Beirut Human Rights Film Festival is one of the branched out subsidiaries of the Karama Festival, which was founded in 2010 in Amman, Jordan. Its program includes film screenings and human rights activities. The festival seeks to contribute to the spread of human rights that combat racism, hatred, discrimination and injustice. With an aim of supporting minorities, the festival presents selected films from around the world and holds open debates to highlight human rights violations around the world and prospects for social change and progress.
The Karama Human Rights Film Festival has largely contributed to the establishment of the three festivals in the Arab world; the Red Carpet - Karama HRFF Gaza in Palestine, Karama Beirut in Lebanon and Karama Mauritania.
Ma3mal 612 Think Factory is a collaboration made up of thinkers and workers from different backgrounds and disciplines who design innovative projects based on thematic topics that relate to the Arab World. Functioning as an incubator for thinkers and artists, helping them engage in both creative thinking and creative action, Ma3mal 612 works to create an enlightened social and artistic lobby that can voice the priorities of the region collectively, rather than just individually. Ma3mal was designed to produce and enhance the production of films, documentaries, video art, installations and other visual and artistic projects, with a focus on work that has the potential to create change within our civil societies.
Based in Jordan, ANHAR, The Arab Network for Human Rights Film Festivals is a regional project that creates a pool of information, film databases and screenings in the Arab Region. It is a networking platform that operates on the basis of partnership and exchange of expertise between its members.
Established in December 2015, the network has nine members from Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan and Syria. ANHAR aims to establish a connection between activists, filmmakers and festival directors, in addition to making spaces for screening human rights films to build bridges through joint events, co-productions and advocacy campaigns. The collective experience of its members helps enhance the quality, impact and outreach of its initiatives.
Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) 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.
