For the third consecutive year, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) takes part of the seventh edition of the Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF) in Sweden (October 6-10) with a schedule of intensive activities. This comes as part of the the partnership between the ACC, Arab Cinema in Sweden (ACIS) and MAFF.
The ACC will be taking part, alongside its partners, in the events of the festival's market and forum (October 7-9), including; two seminars, a panel discussion, joining the festival's juries, and presenting an award to one of the participating projects in the market, in addition to presenting 11 films from the distribution list of MAD Solutions, the ACC's organizer, in the festival's various competitions. The latest edition of the Arab Cinema Magazine will also be distributed among the festival guests.
ACC partners will have a strong presence at the festival. Superstar Saba Mubarak (Pan East Media) will join the jury of the two feature film competitions (long and short films) in addition to her participation in a panel discussion on promoting gender equality in film industry on Monday, October 9th, at 10:00 am. Ahmed Samy, Executive Manager of Studio ZAT, will give a presentation on the activities and services provided by the studio in a panel discussion that will be held on Sunday, October 8th, at 01:00 pm.
Producer Mohamed Hefzy (Film Clinic) will also take part in a panel discussion on the Arab Film Institute (AFI) on Sunday, October 8th, at 03:00 pm. On the same day, producer Rula Nasser (The Imaginarium Films) will join the panel of the MAFF Development Funding Feature, while Maher Diab, Creative Director and Co-founder of MAD Solutions and the Arab Cinema Center, will join the panel of the Doc Post Production Platform.
Also among the ACC's activities at MAFF, Film Analyst Alaa Karkouti, Co-founder of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) and CEO of MAD Solutions, will present a seminar titled "ACC: Presenting Fresh Data From The Arab Film Industry" on Saturday, October 7th at 01:00 pm. Through the seminar, Karkouti will briefly describe the current status of the film industry and film distribution in the Arab world.
Under the title "Meet the Distributors", Karkouti, together with Marie Strauss (Folkets Bio, Sweden), will present a seminar on Sunday, October 8th, at 10:00 am, to showcase the activities undertaken by both of their companies, the films they distribute, the kind of films they are looking for, as well as distribution possibilities in the Arab world and Sweden.
At 10:00 am on Monday, October 9th, Karkouti will be part of a panel discussion entitled "The Map of the Arab Film Industry", where a group of film industry experts and producers from the Arab world will speak about their companies and organizations as well as the film industry in the Arab world.
For the third year in a row, under the umbrella of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), MAD Solutions is going to present its Marketing and Distribution Award in the Arab world to one of the winning film projects participating in the MAFF Market Forum (MMF). The award 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 Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, and at the Final Cut in Venice workshop held within the Venice International Film Festival.
Last year, the documentary project Tiny Souls by Jordanian director Dina Naser won the award, which was also given to the documentary Room for a Man by Lebanese director Anthony Chidiac at the 2015 edition of the festival.
MAD Solutions will compete in the festival's various competitions with 11 films of its distribution. In addition to the closing film, the company will present 10 other films as follows: Only Men Go To The Grave by Abdulla Al Kaabi and Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim by director Sherif El Bendary, co-produced by MAD Solutions and Film Clinic Indie-Distribution (FCID), will both take part in the Feature Film Competition. Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc by Iman Kamel and Ya Omri by Hady Zaccak will take part in the Documentary Film Competition. As for the Short Film Competition, MAD will present Five Boys and A Wheel by Said Zagha, Submarine by Mounia Akl, The Parrot by Darin J. Sallam and Amjad Al Rasheed, Five O'Clock by Ayman Al-Shatri, Nocturne in Black by Jimmy Keyrouz, and Abraham by Ali Kareem Obaid. Director Mohamed Diab's film Clash was selected as the festival's closing film.
The MAFF Market Forum (MMF) is a unique platform for the Nordic and Arab film industry providing opportunities and introducing initiatives to facilitate distribution and co-productions. The initiative is designed to promote cultural exchange and co-operation between the Nordic countries and the Arab world. The main aim of MMF is to bring together producers, financiers and film professionals through informative and practical program activities, pitching venues, network sessions and much more.
The Malmö Arab Film Festival is dedicated to screening films from across the Arab world for the different communities living in Sweden that are about 175 different nationalities. The festival sees thousands of cinema-goers from Malmö and the region as well as famous actors, directors, producers and film professionals attend the festival in Malmö to enjoy the year's greatest films from the Arab world.
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 14 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, and the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
