ACC selects Chiraz Latiri to receive the Arab Cinema Personality of The Year award

CAIRO - 15 February 2020: The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) selected Chiraz Latiri, former General Director of the Centre National du Cinema et de l'Image (CNCI), to receive the Arab Cinema Personality of The Year award, presented by The Hollywood Reporter.

Latiri will receive her award during a reception held by the ACC at this year's Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), which witnessed the ACC's launch six years ago.

"Chiraz Latiri is one of the very few people who have positive influence on the film industry in Tunisia. Her efforts have also extended to benefit many filmmakers from the Arab world and Africa. Latiri's great passion for cinema should inspire all filmmakers across the Arab world." Maher Diab and Alaa Karkouti, Founders of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), said.

"I am delighted to receive such an award from The Hollywood Reporter and Arab Cinema Center (ACC). This award is a reminder of how Cinema has crossed and changed my path in so many ways. I feel privileged for having had the chance to rub shoulders everyday with Tunisia's greatest film professionals and international key names in the industry," said Chiraz on her acceptance of the award.

"I'm also proud to see that the Tunisian film industry has been developing and evolving to witness the immergence of a new generation of Tunisian filmmakers whose films able to compete internationally and winning awards from the world's most prestigious film festivals. For almost three years, I was part this exhilarating, dynamic journey," Latiri added.

Chiraz Latiri has greatly contributed to the development of the Tunisian film industryduring the three years she served as General Director of the Centre National du Cinema et de l'Image (CNCI)from 2017 to 2019.

Latiri founded the SENTOO program that focuses on developing Arab and African film projects in the writing phase and promote co-production between countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb region.

She also created the Arab Film Platform, launched as part of the Manarat Mediterranean Film Festival.

The Arab Film Platform seeks to encourage and support film production in the region by offering networking and co-production opportunities to develop feature film projects made by emerging and professional filmmakers from the Arab world.

Latiri has wide experience in the field of technology. She obtained a PhD in Computer Science, with a speciality in Information System and Data Mining, from the Ecole Nationale des Sciences de l'Informatique (ENSI) in Tunisia in 2004. From 2006 to 2011, she was appointed head of the Institut Supérieur des Arts Multimédia de la Manouba (ISAMM) in Tunisia.

Her academic career has motivated her to revolutionize the film industry. Latiri founded the Carthage Digital section, held as part of the Carthage Film Festival (JCC).Carthage Digital brings together film experts and tech leaders to explore new forms of storytelling using the latest technologies in the digital industry, including Virtual Reality (VR) and Visual effects (VFX). She also created the Creative Digital Lab (CDL), a unique platform dedicated to young Tunisians involved in digital and creative industries.

Last year, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) and The Hollywood Reporter presented the Arab Cinema Personality of The Year award to Screenwriter and Producer Mohamed Hefzy. In 2018,the awardwas given to Abdulhamid Juma, Chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), and Masoud Amralla, Artistic Director of the DIFF. The award is part of the ACC's strategy of promoting the Arab film industry internationally and supporting Arab filmmakers.

Arab Cinema Center (ACC) celebrates its sixth year since its inception in 2015. A nonprofit organization registered in Amsterdam, the 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 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, 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's 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.

The Arab Cinema Center announced the launch of the MAD 3ARABI (Arab Flow) in Prague, Czech Republic.

The festival aims to introduce the Arab culture and focus on the film and TV industry, flowing Arab entertainment and culture onto European shores, and also providing an extension for Arab filmmakers and content creators in the entertainment industry to reach new shores.