A new international platform for Arab cinema, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), will launch at this year’s European Film Market in Berlin, representing 11 Arab production companies and organisations.
Organised by Egypt’s MAD Solutions, the ACC delegation will also include Egyptian production companies Film Clinic, The Producers, X-Rated, Crystal Dog and Middle West Films; Jordan’s The Imaginarium Films, Lebanon’s Screen Institute Beirut, UAE’s Emirati Cinema Campaign, Sweden’s Malmo Arab Film Festival and Arab Cinema in Sweden.
MAD Solutions’ team includes CEO Alaa Karkouti, creative director Maher Diab, managing partner for its GCC bureau Abdallah Al Shami and director of international operations Colin Brown.
In addition, Jane Williams, former director of Dubai International Film Festival’s Dubai Film Connection (DFC), is working as an independent consultant for the ACC.
The ACC’s activities in Berlin will include hosting screenings of Arab films, organising networking sessions and meetings with international film companies and organisations and publishing the Arab Cinema Guide to be distributed among the festival’s guests.
“The Arab Cinema Center at Berlinale this year is a major step that’s been taken without relying on any types of external support. Hence, the center is supported only by the companies and organisations taking part in this event,” said Karkouti.
Brown added: “With this umbrella presence at the European Film Market – one of the key business crossroads in the annual film calendar – we want to project a progressive image of pan-Arab co-operation and openness.”
Arab filmmakers featured in the Berlinale line-up, the Berlinale Talents platform and the Robert Bosch Stiftung will also be networking through the ACC.
A Cairo and Abu Dhabi-based marketing consultancy, MAD branched into distribution and international sales of Arab films two years ago, handling titles such as Ahmad Abdallah’s Rags & Tatters and Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb.
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