MAD Solutions' Films Top the Lists in Mohamed Rouda's The Book of Cinema

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Six MAD Celebrities Listed as the Most Influential Arab Filmmakers

MAD Solutions' Films Top the Lists in Mohamed Rouda's The Book of Cinema


Film Critic Mohammed Rouda has recently issued the 9th edition of his encyclopedic book franchise, The
Book of Cinema. In his latest book release, critic Rouda placed many of MAD Solutions' celebrities and films promoted and/or distributed by the company's distribution arm on many of the curated lists.

The book includes a list of The Most Influential Arab Filmmakers over the past two years, six filmmakers who work jointly with MAD Solutions are listed; Director Hany Abu Assad (Palestine), whose film Omar
was distributed by the company in the Arab world, Naji Abu Nowar (Jordan), Mohamed Khan (Egypt), Hicham El Asri (Morocco), Producer/Screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy (Egypt), in addition to Film Analyst,
Alaa Karkouti, CEO of MAD Solutions. All the lists were organized in alphabetical order.

The Top 10 Arab Feature Films list includes several MAD films, namely; 3000 Nights (Mai Masri), Theeb (Naji Abu Nowar), Go Home (Jihane Chouaib), Omar (Hany Abu Assad), and Before the Summer Crowds (Mohamed Khan).

Meanwhile, Rouda selected two films in the Best Directorial Debut list; The Gate of Departure (Karim
Hanafy) and the Lebanese film GoHome. He also selected Before the Summer Crowds as the Best Debut Screenplay (GhadaShahbandar). All of the aforementioned films are distributed in the Arab world by MADSolutions.

The Book of Cinema also include what Rouda called the Generations list; which highlights the top 10 directors who have presented important projects in the past two years from all over the world. The list includes three directors associated with MAD Solutions: Hany Abu Assad, Mohamed Khan, and Mai
Masri. In the same context, Rouda presents the most outstanding countries in terms of their film industries, where the Lebanese film industry topped the list with productions such as 3000 Nights and
Go Home.

The Book of Cinema, issued nine editions so far, is an annual review written specifically on all Arab and foreign films Rouda watches throughout each year. This edition includes reviews on 450 films; including 150 from across the Arab world that Rouda watched during 2015 through the beginning of 2016.

The new book consists of 280 large and colored pages. The book's cover features, as usual, pictures of the latest films that will either hit cinemas during the year or have already been screened in some festivals. In this edition, the book chapters are unlike previous editions. Currently, Mohammed Rouda is working on writing the tenth issue of the book franchise.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Mohammed Rouda studied and specialized in Film Criticism since the late 60s. He started Film magazine with his colleagues Director George Shamshoum and Critic Edgar Nagar, which was the first professional Arab cinema magazine to be published in Lebanon. Afterwards, he left Lebanon and moved to live between the UK and USA, where he studied scriptwriting. Rouda has written for several leading Arabic newspapers and magazines, such as: Al Hawadith, Al Watan Al Arabi, Al-Hayat, and Asharq Al Awsat newspaper where he currently works. As for non-Arabic publications, he has written for the two French magazines Cinéfantastique and Traveling, and for the two internationally well-known magazines The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily. Rouda also was Editor-in-Chief at Variety Arabia.