MAD Solutions Screens Four Films at the Festival International du Cinema Mediterraneen de Tetouan

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The Reports on Sarah and Selim | BONBONE| Villa Touma | The Parrot

MAD Solutions Screens Four Films at the Festival International du Cinema Mediterraneen de Tetouan


Four films distributed by MAD Solutions will screen at the 25th Festival International du Cinema Mediterraneen de Tetouan (March 23-30). As part of its Honoring Palestinian Cinema programme, the festival will screen the feature Villa Touma by Suha Arraf and the shorts BONBONe by Rakan Mayasi, and The Parrot by Darin J. Sallam and Amjad Al Rasheed.

Marking its Arab world premiere, The Reports on Sarah and Saleem by director Muayad Alayan will compete in the festival's official competition.

Festival International du Cinema Mediterraneen de Tetouan is an annual event held in Tetouan, Morocco. The festival brings together filmmakers, audience and film students to explore new films in the Mediterranean region and participate in roundtables, workshops and film lectures.

About Villa Touma

Directed by Suha Arraf, the film follows a Palestinian Christian family of three women (Violette, Juliette, and Antoinette) who live by being immersed in the past, isolated from Palestinian society enclosed in Villa Touma in Ramallah. Their niece Khadija, who had been raised on an orphanage, comes to live with them and they raise her as befitting an aristocratic family. They teach her French and piano. Violette (the oldest sister) searches for a groom for her as well, so that she doesn't end up a spinster like them.

Villa Touma took part in about 50 international film festivals, and it stars Nisreen Faour, Ula Tabari, Cherien Dabis, Nicholas Jacob,and Maria Zreik, who won the Best Actress award for her role in the film at the MedFilm Festival in Italy. Suha Arraf was listed on Variety Magazine's "Top 10 Screenwriters to Watch", and earned the Best Director award at the Women's International Film and Television Showcase (WIFTS) in Los Angeles. The film received a Special Mention from the Film University and Institute Association at the Venice International Film Festival in 2014, where it had its world premiere, as well as the Church of Iceland award at the Reykjavik International Film Festival in Iceland. The film is distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions.

About BONBONe

In less than 16 minutes, a Palestinian inmate serving time in an Israeli jail receives a visit from his wife who devises a bold and crafty operation to fulfill their secret desires. Written and directed by Rakan Mayasi, BONBONe stars Saleh Bakri, Rana Alamuddin and features Nadira Omran. BONBONe is produced by Groundglass235 in co-production with The Postoffice and Mad4Films, and in association with db Studios. MAD Solutions distributes the film across the Arab world.

BONBONe won many awards, including the Best Short Film at the Elia Short Films Festival, Director's Award at the North Carolina Film Awards in the US, the Best Short Film and Best Script awards at the 2018 Festival Internacional de Cine Bajo la Luna - Islantilla Cinefórum, the Audience Award and Jury Award for Best Short Film awardsat the 4th Festival Cine-Palestine (FCP) in Paris, France, Best Short Film award at the 16th Festival Internacional de Cine de Almería (FICAL) in Spain, Best Short Film award at each of the Moscow International Film Festival in Russia and the Gabes Film Festival in Tunisia, in addition to the Golden Egg Award for Best Short Film at the Küstendorf Film & Music Festival in Serbia.

About The Parrot

The film tells the story of a Mizrahi Jewish family, who emigrate from Morocco, trying to settle into their new life in Haifa, Palestine in 1948. Directed by Darin J. Sallam and Amjad Al Rasheed (Jordan), the film stars Hend Sabry, Ashraf Barhoum, Yasmine Ben Amara, Eyad Hourani, Firas Taybeh, Lara Sawalha, and Ahmad Al-Madani, and written by Amjad Al Rasheed, Darin J. Sallam, and Rifqi Assaf.

The Parrot had its world premiere at the 13th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), within the Muhr Short competition. The film is funded by the German foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung (RBS), which funds the Best German-Arab film projects. The Parrot received the 2015 Film Prize of RBS in the short fiction category. The film won the Jury Award at the 7th Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden and the Best Short Film at the Palestine Cinema Days, within its Sunbird Competition. The Parrot is distributed by MAD Solutions in the Arab world.