Pan-Arab outfit MAD Solutions has launched international sales company MAD World, which will introduce its first slate of titles and executive team at the Cannes market next week.
The Dubai-based firm will handle worldwide sales and international distribution of new Arab-language feature films, led by MAD Solutions’ co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab as well as the company’s managing partner Colin Brown. All three are co-presidents of MAD World, with Karkouti serving as CEO.
Also joining MAD World are European executives Edin De Liancourt as vice president of sales and acquisitions and Jeanne Deny as director of sales and acquisitions. De Liancourt previously held roles at AllRites and sales firms Film Seekers and Goodfellas while Deny formerly worked with the international sales team at SND – Groupe M6 and acquisitions team at France’s Federation Studios.
MAD World will debut at Cannes with more than a dozen titles. They include Rani Massalha’s The Return Of The Prodigal Son, an Egypt-Tunisia-France co-production that won the top project prize at the Red Sea Souk in December, about a pig farmer who is put to the test when a swine flu outbreak causes psychosis in Egypt.
Also on the inaugural slate is Thank You For Banking With Us, a female-empowerment drama from Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas, and The Last Exorcist from Saudi writer/director Asim Altokhais, a horror based on his own comic book that is set in 1890 Saudi Arabia.
Further titles include upcoming Sudanese refugee drama Blue Card, from director Mohammed Almoda and Goodbye Julia producer Amjad Abu Alalala; A Bird From Paradise, exploring the sometimes bizarre practices around Tunisian weddings from director Murad Ben Cheikh; and Wendy Bednarz’s Yellow Bus, which premiered at Toronto and won best film at Joburg Film Festival in March.
MAD Solutions made its first move into sales at Cannes last year with Goodbye Julia, Mohamed Kordofani’s debut feature and the first Sudanese film ever to be selected for the festival, where it played in Un Certain Regard. The company closed deals for the film in several key territories worldwide including France, Italy, German-speaking territories and Taiwan.
The firm also handled Faris Alrjoob’s short The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry, which played in Directors’ Fortnight and became the first ever Jordanian film to be acquired by streaming platform Mubi.
In addition to acquiring worldwide rights to more international co-productions, the Cairo-based studio has become increasingly involved in packaging Arabic projects with international market potential.
As well as offering new titles, MAD World will handle sales on a library of recent festival award-winners, documentary features, shorts and catalogue titles, many of which have not been seen by audiences outside the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The majority of these titles, including Goodbye Julia, were theatrically released across the Arabic-speaking world through MAD Distribution, the company’s distribution division that will remain focused on the MENA marketplace.
MAD Solutions, which has been in operation since 2010, has rights to more than 500 film titles in its library.
“Until now, Arab filmmakers have been at the mercy of an international sales ecosystem with preconceived notions about what Arab cinema should be in order to travel,” said MAD World co-president Brown. “We intend to challenge those limitations, exploring all manner of distribution options around the world, even unconventional ones, in order to expand the global audience for a wider range of Arab storytellers.”
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