Cairo-based film and talent group Mad Solutions has forged a partnership with Haitham Dabbour’s drama outfit Irth to develop Arab film and television projects for both regional and international markets.
The alliance will combine Irth’s creative and development infrastructure with Mad Solutions’ distribution and sales network, talent management, production and marketing. The two aim to take projects from early development through packaging, market positioning and connections with producers, studios, broadcasters, platforms and international partners.
The partnership will develop films, TV series and other formats, including projects built around talent represented by MAD Celebrity. It will also work with third-party producers and projects requiring development support — from early-stage writing and creative consultancy to rewriting, script doctoring and preparing material for regional and international markets.
A pipeline of titles is now in the works, spanning original productions, talent-driven projects and third-party development and consultancy assignments, with the first projects to be announced separately.
Irth was launched last year by Egyptian author, screenwriter and producer Dabbour, whose writing credits include Photocopy by Tamer Ashry, winner of best Arab feature at El Gouna in 2017, and Karim Elshenawy’s 2018 crime thriller Gunshot. He also wrote and co-produced Elshenawy’s The Tale Of Daye’s Family, which premiered at the 2025 Berlinale, and wrote Mohamed Taher’s 32B, which won best short at Tribeca in June. His latest feature Bahr, directed by Ahmad Alaa, is in post-production.
Irth works across original content creation and writing, as well as script development, script doctoring and creative consultancy for projects at different stages. Since launching, it has built a creative development operation around an established network of writers and creative professionals from multiple Arab nationalities.
“Irth has always been about bringing strong writers and different Arab voices together and giving ideas the development they need,” said Dabbour. “Mad’s regional and international reach gives us the opportunity to take that work further and open new possibilities for the projects and writers we work with.”
Mad Solutions co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab said in a joint statement: “Development is a key part of Mad’s regional and international expansion, and Irth brings a strong creative infrastructure and a diverse network of Arab writers to that strategy. Together, we can originate projects while also offering filmmakers and producers the development support they need to strengthen existing ones.”
Kareem Samy, executive director of Mad Celebrity, said the alliance would create a more direct route between talent management and project creation.
“We don’t only want to find opportunities for our talent; we want to help create them,” he said. “Working with Irth allows us to bring talent into the creative process much earlier and develop projects around distinctive voices and capabilities.”
The pact was revealed on the sidelines of the Venice Film Festival, where Mad Solutions represents two films in selection: Ashgan El-Hamus’s Al Baraneya playing in Giornate degli Autori; and Muayad Alayan’s Conversations With The Sea in Venice Spotlight.
Mad will also present its annual award at Final Cut in Venice, marking the 12th year of the company’s support for the programme, which supports films from Africa and the Arab world through post-production and international industry opportunities.
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