MAD Solutions will screen 7 films at the 1st META Film Festival, Dubai (October 27-29). The festival's main competition will feature five MAD films, including Maysoon Pachachi's OUR RIVER... OUR SKY, TRAPPED by Manal Khaled, TALA'VISION by Murad Abu Eisheh, HUMMUS AND CHIPS by Ahmed Moghazy, and 1+1 by Alaa Mahmoud. While two MAD films, Hany Abu-Assad’s HUDA'S SALON, and Mano Khalil's NEIGHBORS, will have a special screening.
 
Launched by META Cinema Forum with VOX Cinemas, META Film Festival brings the latest blockbusters as well as independent, regional, and local productions to audiences for a three-day jammed-packed festival. The festival takes place at VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, on the stunning Palm Island in Dubai.
 
Find out more about MAD Films here: 
 
HUDA’S SALON:
Inspired by real events, HUDA’S SALON is a heart-racing, entertaining feminist thriller, where two women fight for their freedom. Reem, a young mother who is married to a jealous man, goes to Huda’s salon in Bethlehem for a haircut and an attentive ear. However, this ordinary visit turns sour after Huda puts Reem in a shameful situation, blackmails her into working for the secret service of the occupiers, and betrays her people.
 
Written and directed by Hany Abu-Assad, HUDA’S SALON stars Ali Suliman, Manal Awad, and Maisa Abd Elhadi. It was screened in several US cinemas as well as in several Arab and international film festivals, including Valladolid International Film Festival. It had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival and its Arab world premiere at Red Sea International Film Festival.
 
MAD Solutions and Lagoonie Film Production manage the film’s distribution across the Arab world.
 
Screening Time: Thursday, 27/10, at 8:30 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 8
 
NEIGHBORS:
Set during Hafez al-Assad’s regime in the 1980s, in a small village on the Turkish-Syrian border, Sero, a Kurdish child, must deal with how his small world is radically changing through absurd nationalism. 
 
Written and directed by Mano Khalil, NEIGHBORS stars Serhed Khalil, Jalal Altawil, and Jay Abdo. The film nabbed several awards from prestigious international film festivals, most notably for Best Screenplay at Red Sea International Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Critics Jury Prize. 
 
It’s distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions and worldwide by Frenetic Films. 
 
Screening Time: Saturday, 29/10, at 1:00 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 1
 
OUR RIVER … OUR SKY:
OUR RIVER…OUR SKY is an ensemble film of intersecting stories that take place in the last week of 2006—between Christmas and New Year. It tells the stories of ordinary Iraqis trying to live their everyday lives amidst unpredictable violence. 
 
The film is directed by Maysoon Pachachi, who also co-wrote the film with Irada Al-Jubori - a Baghdad-based author. The international cast includes Iraqi actors based inside and outside of Iraq, including Basim Hajar (Sweden), Meriam Abbas, Ali El Kareem (Germany), and renowned Iraq-based actor Mahmoud Abu Abbas. OUR RIVER…OUR SKY landed its world premiere at Sarajevo Film Festival and was screened at Cairo IFF, Slemani IFF, Amman IFF, and  Franco-Arab Film Festival in Baghdad. The film was also screened at Arab film festivals in San Francisco, Berlin, and Rotterdam.  
 
MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution across the Arab world. 
 
Screening Time: Friday, 28/10, at 5:00 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 2
 
TRAPPED:
The storyline of the film follows a group of women coming from different social backgrounds who find themselves trapped by their own quest for freedom. The film tackles the broader sense of being trapped sometimes in one's thoughts, inner conflict, and ideas. For entrapment is by all means not limited to concrete walls and shackles.
 
TRAPPED is directed and produced by Manal Khaled, who also co-wrote the script with Rasha Azab. It stars Caroline Khalil, Reem Hijab, Usamah Abul-Ata, Ne’ma Mohsen, Mona Mokhtar, Tharaa Goubail, Ragwa Hamed, Zeina Mansour‎, Habiba Effat and Fadel El Garhi. 
 
The film won  Best Feature film Award at Tunisia Karama - Human Screen Festival ans screened at international festivals like Mostra de València –Cinema del Mediterrani, San Diego Arab Film Festival in USA, Arab and Mediterranean Film Festival of Catalonia, 
 
MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution across the Arab world. 
 
Screening Time: Saturday, 29/10, at 7:45 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 2
 
 TALA'VISION:
 The eight-year-old Tala lives within a war-torn reality. She finds her solace and salvation in a banned television, which turns later into a matter of life and death. 
 
Written and directed by Murad Abu Eisheh, it stars Ziad Bakri, Aesha Balasem, and Khalid Al Tarifi. TALA'VISION won several awards, including Best Narrative Film at Student Academy Awards competition of the Oscars (the first Arab film to win such an award). 
 
MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution across the Arab world. 
Screening Time: Thursday, 27/10, at 4:30 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 3
 
About HUMMUS AND CHIPS:
Set against the backdrop of Covid19 lockdown, grumpy racist grandma Margaret is lonely and anxiously waiting for her coronavirus test result. For this reason, she will make an unusual decision and spend a full day with her Arab neighbor, Bashar. Will this encounter go smoothly?
 
Written and directed by Ahmed Moghazy, the film stars Bashar Zeedan, Maggie Bourgein, and Lara Assi. 
 
MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution across the Arab world. 
 
Screening Time: Thursday, 27/10, at 6:00 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 3
 
About 1+1
The film revolves in an era after the great war had destroyed the city, only a man and a woman, from the opposite parties remain. Both have to live in conflict between fighting and living in peace.
 
Written and directed by Alaa Mahmoud, 1+1 stars Amir El-Masry and Sarrah AbdelRahman. The film landed its world premiere at Aswan International Women Film Festival. 
 
MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution in the Arab world.
Screening Time: Thursday, 27/10, at 6:00 PM (GMT+4), VOX Cinemas Nakheel Mall, Cinema 3