Minaa Officially Launches at Berlinale

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Reintroducing the Art of Contemporary Storytelling Through Docs

Minaa Officially Launches at Berlinale


The Creative Documentary Platform (CDP)- Amman and MAD Solutions- Cairo, founded Minaa public-engagement distribution scheme. The platform was launched at the Arab Cinema Centre function during the 66th Berlinale, which also saw the revival of Variety's Arab Filmmaker of the Year award. Minaa scheme is supported by Abdul Hameed ShomanFoundation- Amman, and Key Technological Contributor Striim.in- Finland, in collaboration with Ma3mal 612 Founder and Organizer of the Karama Human Rights Film Festival- Amman.

Reem Bader, Founding Director of CDP, commented "Celebrating Minaa at the Berlinale is an exceptional moment shared with esteemed creative filmmakers, stories and film enthusiasts. It's credible as it acknowledges creative documentaries and their makers; those at home who continue to articulate our stories today despite of significant realities within our beloved world. It is also attributed to Minaa partners, team and the countless people who contributed to Minaa's recognition and supported its creation."

"Minaa is here as a collaborative, evolving self-sustained public-engagement and distribution scheme offering creative documentary teams, partners and audiences a sense of ownership and growth," added Bader.

Alaa Karkouti, Co-Founder of MAD Solutions further stressed on the importance of the platform and stated, "Minaa is a testimony that our storytelling culture is alive and well. It is a form of narrative that, unfortunately in the Arab world, is associated with news programs. Therefore, the platform will act as a catalyst to reform this impression. More than ever before, our documentaries are becoming crucial to our history and identity, and with Minaa, we aim to use it as a continuously growing archive of modern Arab history narrative."

Valentina Qussisiya, the CEO of Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation also expressed that "the foundation is proud to be supporting Minaa as part of the Foundation's continued support for arts and literature. We believe Minaa will serve an innovative and much needed platform for sharing more credible stories from our region. Our region is in dire need for a platform where Arabs can share their own views and document their lives through their own lenses and contribute to writing their history"

Sawsan Darwaza, Founder and Director of Karama Human Rights Film Festival added "Ma3mal 612 Productions' notice of Minana and interest in its scheme because it's functional, practical and in perfect synergy with the Karama Human Rights Film Festival. It allows the exposure and distribution of various creative documentaries including Karama Films, allowing reaching out to and engaging larger audiences."

Minaa will be part of the ACC platform, allowing it an international exposure opportunity, starting with one of the most prominent film festivals in the world. Kalle Kujala, CEO of Striim.in added, "Arab Cinema Center is a worldwide brand and an experienced Arab's movie industry. The organisation's superior know-how with reliability and flexibility is the key for Striim.in to enter our main focused business sector - regardless geographical location."

Minaa isn't the most classical distribution scheme; it's rather an innovative/ experimental approach to audience engagement seeking to sustain a balance in between supporting creative documentaries' and their teams as well as building audiences.

The scheme will function as a platform to collect and harbor regional creative documentaries of different lengths and allow their online streaming via Minaa VOD. It will also distribute creative documentaries through TV stations, festivals, cultural centers, cinemas, universities, airlines...etc.

The Minaa VOD will be an interactive bilingual VOD Platform (Arabic & English). It will feature free and paid viewership for individuals and institutions, regional and international. The viewers can watch docs from different devices and will be able to engage with filmmakers directly.

For more information contact info@minaa.org or check with our team present at the the EFM, Marriott 1ST floor, ACC stand NO. 112 at the Berlinale.