MAD Solutions acquires Arab distribution rights to Ameer Fakher Eldin's highly sought-after multinational drama project YUNAN

release date November 17 2022

MAD Solutions, the world's leading distributor of Arab-language films, has recently acquired the Arab world distribution rights to Ameer Fakher Eldin's eagerly anticipated second feature film, the life-affirming drama YUNAN.

The acquisition was reported in several international media outlets including the prominent Hollywood media website Deadline, which broke the story on November 15th.

Featuring a star-studded pan-Arab cast alongside several international actors in a co-production involving Germany, France, Italy, and Palestine, the project has been selected for the upcoming Red Sea Souk Project Market of the Red Sea International Film Festival (December 1st-10th).

YUNAN follows the story of a disillusioned Arab author who travels from his exiled existence in Hamburg to a remote island in the North Sea with thoughts of suicide. There he meets an elderly woman whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires in life.

The film is being produced by Red Balloon Film, Les Films Du Veyrier, Intramovies, and Fresco Films. MAD Solutions is managing the film's distribution across the Arab world.

YUNAN is Fakher Eldin's follow-up to his debut feature, THE STRANGER (released as AL GARIB in the Arab world) which was selected as Palestine's official entry for Best International Feature Film at last year's 94th Academy Awards.

Premiering at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, THE STRANGER won the Edipo Re Award in 2021 before enjoying great acclaim on the global festival circuit, winning several prizes, including Best Arab Film at the 2021 edition of the Cairo International Film Festival.

It was also nominated for Best Film at the Valencia International Film Festival's Cinema Jove and screened at the Melbourne, Durban, Hamburg, and Sydney international film festivals.

Moreover, just recently at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, THE STRANGER was nominated for Best Director and won the award for Best Cinematography in recognition of the work of the film's Director of Photography Niklas Lindschau.

Already cast in YUNAN is George Khabbaz – a prominent Lebanese filmmaker, writer, and actor who is best known for Nadine Labaki's Oscar-nominated feature CAPERNAUM, the world's highest-grossing Arab movie ever. In YUNAN, Khabbaz shares the screen with one of the film's several international stars, award-winning German actress Sibel Kekilli, who is best known for her role as Shae in GAME OF THRONES and for winning the Best Actress Award at the German Film Awards (also known as the 'Lolas') for her role in Fatih Akin's HEAD ON. More cast details will be revealed soon.

According to Fakher Eldin, YUNAN expands on the theme of estrangement, saying that "YUNAN is a story of salvation and rebirth. It deals with the distances that open up relentlessly as we exile, between the unforgettable past and the present, between the present and an unattainable future. It is about loneliness and depression, and particularly the kind of depression suffered by those who choose feelings they cannot bear and get stuck in the depths of their despair."

"I am very happy to re-team with Red Balloon after our highly successful collaboration on AL GARIB; the company has been very supportive throughout, and we are very pleased that MAD Solutions will handle distribution across the Arab world, as they have proven to be among the best in the business."

YUNAN also reunites MAD Solutions with producer Dorothe Beinemeier – CEO of Hamburg-based Red Balloon Film – following their ongoing collaboration on Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan's A HOUSE IN JERUSALEM.

Beinemeier says that YUNAN is the second part of a trilogy called HOME that began with Fakher Eldin's prize-winning first feature AL GARIB.

"The feeling of insurmountable strangeness and the longing for a reassuring but difficult-to-reach home are at the core of the cinematic narrative of the young Syrian director," she explains.

"Ameer's feature debut Al GARIB focused on alienation within one's own community and family, while the new screenplay YUNAN is about the strangeness of an exiled man in Germany. Ameer strikes a deep chord with his timeless, poetic screenwriting and visual language, and is already demonstrating maturity in his way of storytelling."

Co-Founders of MAD Solutions Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab say YUNAN combines the perfect elements for a signature feature film, adding that they "jumped at the opportunity to work with a hugely talented Arab filmmaker, an awe-inspiring cast of Arab and international actors and actresses – some of whom are yet to be revealed – a passionate producer who has love for every project she has worked on, and a beautiful screenplay that takes us on a moving journey that will resonate everywhere."