MAD Solutions Films Win 10 Awards at the Egyptian National Film Festival

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Clash | Hepta: The Last Lecture | A Day for Women | The Other Land

MAD Solutions Films Win 10 Awards at the Egyptian National Film Festival


At the 21st Egyptian National Film Festival, four films from MAD Solutions' distribution list won 10 awards during the ceremony that was held on Thursday night. Clash, which is distributed by MAD, won the award for Best Director for First and Second Work (Mohamed Diab) and Best Editing (Mohamed Hafez). Furthermore, the films that benefitted from MAD's promotional services won eight awards in total. Hepta: The Last Lecture won the Second Production Award (Film Clinic, The Producers and iProductions), Best Screenplay (Wael Hamdy), Best Actor in a Secondary Role (Maged El KEdany), Best Cinematography (Gamal El Boushy and Leo Carbotta), and Best Sound (Ahmed Gaber). A Day for Women won the Third Production Award (Shahin Film) and Best Music (Tamer Carawan), while The Other Land won a Certificate of Appreciaition.

The awards were distributed at the closing ceremony of the festival, which was attended by the Minister of Culture Helmy El-Namnam and a number of Egyptian film stars at the Cairo Opera House.

The Egyptian National Film Festival is one of the most important Egyptian film festivals hosted by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture through the Cultural Development Fund. Annually, the festival's activities include two competitions; one for the feature films and the other for the documentary, short and animation films. The festival aims to push forward the development process of the Egyptian cinema as part of the cultural and social development process through supporting film production, encouraging creative filmmakers, and stimulating the interest in Egyptian cinema inside and outside Egypt.

About Clash:
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 is a co-production between France, Egypt, Germany, and the UAE. The cast includes 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, and it is co-produced by Nicole Gerhards, alongside executive producers Jamal Al Dabbous and Daniel Ziskind. Mohamed Diab's wife, Sarah Goher, also acted as a creative collaborator on the film, earning the title "Creative Producer". The film is distributed in Egyptian theatres by MAD Solutions, while Pyramide International distributes it in France and the rest of the world.

About Hepta: The Last Lecture
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.

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 film is marketed by MAD Solutions. 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 A Day for Women
A Day for Women takes place in a shabby neighborhood in Egypt where a youth center decides to allocate one day on the swimming pool for women only. The film follows the consequences of this decision on the social, psychological and emotional life of the women living in that neighborhood.
A Day for Women brings together a cast and crew of outstanding women, as it is produced by Elham Shahin, who also stars in the film, through her company Shahin Film, directed by Kamla Abouzekri, written by Hanaa Atiyah, DOP Nancy Abdel Fattah and Costume Designer Inas Shahin. The film stars Nelly Karim, Nahed El Sebai, Hala Sedqi, Ragaa Hussein, Shaimaa Seif, along with Mahmoud Hemida, Farouk Al Fishawy, Ahmad Al Fishawy, Eyad Nassar, and Ahmed Dawood. MAD Solutions handles the film's marketing and promotion in the Arab world.

About The Other Land
The Other Land follows the stories of a group of young Egyptians, who escape Egypt's underprivileged rural villages, all sharing one desire; to immigrate to Italy, but without having any official documents aboard a ramshackle old ship. Seeing Italy's coastline ignites their hopes for a better life, but then the treacherous sea waves put an end to all of their dreams.

The Other Land competed at the 2016 Cairo International Film Festival while competing within its Official Competition. It also competed within the 65th Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival after being chosen as one of the best five films out of 42 Egyptian films released in 2016.

The Other Land stars Mohamed Ali, Bayoumi Fouad, Abdel Aziz Makhyoun, Mohamed Mahran, Amr El Kady, Afaf Shoaib, and Hanan Soliman. The film is written by Zainab Aziz and directed by Ali Edries, marking their sixth time together, co-produced by Creativo, DX Productions in collaboration with The Partner Barcelona (Spain). Al Massa Art Production is handling the worldwide distribution of the film, while MAD Solutions is in charge of the marketing for the film.