After competing within the Sunbird Production Award competition at the Palestine Cinema Days, Palestinian director Riyad Deis' short film project The Anatomy of Love won the MAD Solutions Award. The award offers marketing and distribution services across the Arab world to the winning film project.
Abdallah Al Shami, Managing Partner and GCC Representative at MAD Solutions served as a jury member of the Sunbird Production Competition.
Commenting on the winning film project, Al Shami says: "What distinguishes The Anatomy of Love is what it carries in its context, and here I mean the universal language of love, which the film tries to discover in a completely new light."
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 regionally and to promote them on the long run. The company previously offered similar awards at the Open Doors initiative held as part of the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, the Final Cut in Venice workshop, held on the margins of the Venice International Film Festival, the MAFF Market Forum (MMF) of the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, the Days of Cinema in Palestine, and the Festival National du Film Professional Meetings in Tangier, Morocco.
Palestine Cinema Days is the only international film festival of its kind in Palestine held five Palestinian cities; Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza, Bethlehem and Nablus. The Festival is dedicated to presenting strong, independent and diverse cinematic voices from around the world. The Festival supports the local and international film culture in Palestine, with a special focus on creating and strengthening a local film industry.
In 2014, Filmlab: Palestine was founded as a non-profit organization with a vision to build a productive and dynamic film industry in Palestine by providing the ideal space for filmmakers to convene, evoke learning, exchange experiences, inspire one another, and produce film art, while exposing viewers to a diverse repertoire of films.