Two Arab films win the Arab Cinema Center partners awards at Final Cut in Venice Workshop

At the 79th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, two partners of the Arab Cinema Center announced their awards for Arab film projects at Final Cut in Venice Workshop.

Feature film project “INSHALLAH A BOY” by  Jordanian director Amjad Al-Rasheed won financial support from El Gouna Film Festival worth 5000 USD.

 The feature film project “BLACKLIGHT” by Algerian director Karim Bensalah as the winner of its award, for promotional and distribution services in the Arab world. 

 El Gouna Film Festival is a partner in the Arab Cinema Center which is present at the festival for the seventh consecutive edition.

The MAD Solutions award lasts for the eighth straight year within the workshop, while El Gouna Film Festival award is in its sixth edition for the festival within the workshop.

A number of partners collaborated with the Arab Cinema Center regarding “INSHALLAH A BOY” project.

The film was produced by Imaginarium Films (Rula Nasser and Aseel Abu Ayyash) and co-distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions and Lagoonie Film Production.

Directed by Amjad Al-Rasheed who co-wrote the film with Delphine Augte and Rula Nasser, IT’S A BOY stars Muna Hawa, Haitham Omari, Salwa Nakkara, Yumna Marwan, Mohammad Al Jizawi and Eslam Al Awadi. The film followsNawal who suddenly loses her husband and finds herself facing society and its laws. However, things turn upside down when she gives birth to a boy.

BLACKLIGHT project by Karim Bensalah tells the story of Sofiane, an Algerian student enjoying a relatively easy life in France as a diplomat's son. Suddenly falling a victim to an administrative decision, he becomes illegal. In order to legalize his situation, he finds a job in a Muslim funeral home, to be a life-changing experience.

Aside from the official awards, the Egyptian documentary film project LAND OF WOMEN by directors Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir managed to grab the attention of bothMAD and Lagoonie companies that will collaborate in the distribution of the film in the Arab world. The film is produced by Felucca Films, with Dolce Vita Films and Magma Films co-producing. Also, Oticons decided to join forces and collaborate with the directors to produce the soundtrack of the film. The film follows a group of girls who form an all-female street theater troupe – a rather unusual sight in their urtla-conservative Egyptian village.

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 in the long run. The company previously offered similar awards at Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, where the award was dedicated to films from the Moroccan region, the MAFF Market Forum (MMF) of the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden, the Palestine Cinema Days, and the Festival National du Film Professional Meetings in Tangier, Morocco.

As for El Gouna Film Festival, it offers monetary prizes for Arab film projects in international platforms, such as the MAFF Market Forum (MMF) of the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden, Latin Arab Co-Production Forum, Beirut Cinema Platform, CineGouna Platform, in addition to Final Cut in Venice.

The 10th Final Cut in Venice workshop supports films in the post-production stage from Africa, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. The film selections are screened to an audience of producers, distributors and programmers of international film festivals. The workshop concludes with an award ceremony to honor the winning films that will be supported through the post-production phase.

The Final Cut in Venice aims to develop the role of the Venice International Film Festival to become a bridge that supports independent filmmaking in these countries by providing effective production support and promoting the films on the international market level.

About Arab Cinema Center

Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is a non-profit organization, which promotes Arab cinema and provides a professional window to connect film professionals with their counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes. 

ACC provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others.

The ACC's activities vary between film markets, stands, and pavilions, networking sessions and one-on-one meetings bringing together Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, 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, a newsletter subscription is now available on the ACC's website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, news on the ACC's activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films screening at festivals, exclusive news on ACC's partners and their future projects.

ACC launched an English-language Arab Cinema Guide, available on its website, which is a comprehensive cinematic guide that provides a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers' access to international markets and help film industry representatives easily identify Arab film productions.