MAD Solutions' Films Scoop Ten Awards at the Cairo Film Society Festival

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Maher Diab Wins the Best Film Poster Award for Clash

MAD Solutions' Films Scoop Ten Awards at the Cairo Film Society Festival


At the 43rd Cairo Film Society Festival, four films distributed and marketed by MAD Solutions have collected ten awards out of the 20 awards given by the festival. Five awards went to Clash by Mohamed Diab, three awards were given to Before the Summer Crowds by late director Mohamed Khan, one award for Hepta: The Last Lecture by Hadi El Bagoury, and another for Zay Ood El Kabreet by late director Hussein Al Imam.

Maher Diab, Art Director and Co-founder of MAD Solutions, won the Best Film Poster Award for Clash, which received four other awards, namely; Best Music Award for Music Composer Khaled Dagher, Best Editing Award for Film Editor Ahmed Hafez, Best Cinematography Award for DOP Ahmed Gabr, and the Special Jury Prize for Direction for Mohamed Diab.

Before the Summer Crowds won the Best Sound (Bassem El Elaimy), Best Music (Layal Watfeh), and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Maged El Kedwany).

The festival's jury members presented a special award under the name of late director Mohamed Khan
to director Hadi El Bagoury for his film Hepta: The Last Lecture and the Samy El Salamouny Award for Innovation to late director Hussein Al Imam for his film Zay Ood El Kabreet.

About Clash
Clash has won 18 awards at international festivals, including; International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK),
Mediterranean Film Festival of Brussels, Zagreb International Film Festival, Carthage Film Festival, Festival du Film Arabe de Fameck/Val de Fensch in France, Valladolid Film Festival (Seminci) in Spain,
BFI London Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, and it landed its world premiere at the
Cannes Film Festival as it opened the prestigious Un Certain Regard section.

Tackling the political unrest that prevailed in Egypt in 2013, Clash's events take place in an 8-meter police truck, crammed with detainees representing different sects of society, their interaction with each other full of madness, violence, romance, and comedy.

Co-written by Khaled Diab and Mohamed Diab, who is also the director, Clash stars Nelly Karim, Tarek Abd El Aziz, Hany Adel, Ahmed Malek, Ashraf Hamdi, Mohamed Abdel Azim, Gamil Barsoum and others.

Clash is a joint production effort between: Film Clinic (Egypt), Sampek Productions (France), and Acamedia Global (UAE), in association with ARTE France Cinema (France), Niko Film (Germany), Fortress Film Clinic (UAE), and Pyramide International (France). Taking part in the project are producers Moez Masoud, Mohamed Hefzy, Eric Lagesse. The film is distributed in Egyptian theatres by MAD Solutions.

About Hepta: The Last Lecture
Hepta: The Last Lecture topped the Egyptian box office with revenues that surpassed 27 million EGP, becoming the highest-grossing romantic film in the history of Egyptian cinema. The film also received the Audience Award at the Arabian Sights Film Festival in Washington, in addition to four awards from Dear Guest Magazine (DG Awards). Moreover, the film took part in 5 other festivals: Malmo Arab Film Festival, Arab Camera Festival in Rotterdam, Cairo International Film Festival, Mediterranean Film Festival of Annaba (FAFM), and the Arab Cinema Week in New York.

Hepta: The Last Lecture is based on Mohamed Sadek's best-selling book, which portrays the seven stages of love through four paralleled stories. Mohamed Sadek's novel topped the charts in Egypt and throughout the Arab world for several weeks, and sold 36 editions.

The film cast list includes: Amr Youssef, Maged El Kedwany, Ahmed Malek, Ahmed Dawood, Dina El Sherbiny, Yasmine Raeis, Jamila Awad, Hany Adel, Ahmed Bedeir, together with Salwa Mohamed Aly, Kinda Alloush, Anoushka, Mohamed Farrag, and Nelly Karim, along with Shereen Reda and the two kids, Abdallah Azmi and Lina Ben Haman. The film is a joint production between Hani Osama's The Producers, Mohamed Hefzy's Film Clinic, and Amgad Sabry's iProductions. The adaptation has been scripted by Wael Hamdy. The film's crew includes Directors of Photography Gamal El Boushy and Leo Carbotta, alongside Production Designer Hend Haidar and Production Manager Mohamed El Hady.

About Before the Summer Crowds
Before the Summer Crowds is the last film by late director Mohamed Khan. Co-written by Ghada Shahbandar and Nura El Sheikh, who also participated in the screenwriting, the film stars Maged El Kedwany, Hana Shiha, Ahmed Dawood, Lana Mushtaq and Hany El Metennawy. Set in a seaside resort, the film tracks a group of people who meet each other by the beginning of summer season.

Before the Summer Crowds is co-produced by five production houses, Middle West Films, Film Clinic, The Producers, Wika for Film Production and Distribution and MAD Solutions, which is in charge of the film's international distribution through its distribution arm: MAD Distribution.

About Zay Ood El Kabreet
Late star Hussein Al Imam's first and last directorial project, Zay Ood El Kabreet connects Hussein Al Imam and a number of film stars of the silver screen including; Faten Hamama, Hend Rostom, Mahmoud El-Meliguy, Hussein Riad, Imad Hamdi, Magda El Khatib, Farid Shawqi, Samir Sabry and other stars.

Zay Ood El Kabreet is a comedic tale invented by the late filmmaker Al Imam to pay tribute to the super stars of the Egyptian cinema's Golden Era. The plot combines scenes starring 21 actors from the age of black and white films with other scenes written by and starring Al Imam.

The end product leads to the rediscovery of golden age actors in a new context. Along with Hussein Al Imam, the film stars Sahar Ramy, Khaled Mahrous, Zakaria Amer and singer Randa El-Sobky.