The Arab Cinema Center Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary at the Berlin International Film Festival

Back to Press Releases

Accompanied by 20 of Its Partners

The Arab Cinema Center Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary at the Berlin International Film Festival


For the fifth year in a row, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) will engage in a wide-range of activities at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) accompanied by 20 of its partners that vary between film organizations and international film festivals. This year, the Berlinale will witness the ACC's five-year anniversary, where it was first launched to the world back in 2015.

The partners who will accompany the ACC to the Berlinale (in alphabetical order) are: Arab Film & Media Institute (AFMI) (USA), Arab Radio & Television (ART) (Saudi Arabia), Art City For Cinema and TV Production (Iraq), Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) (Egypt), Centre National du Cinema et de L'image (CNCI) (Tunisia), Eventival (Czech Republic), Festival Ciné Palestine (FCP) (France), Film Clinic (Egypt), FilmLab: Palestine (FLP) (Palestine), Lagoonie Film Production (Egypt), MAD Solutions (Egypt-UAE), Malaga Film Festival (Spain), Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF) (Sweden), Rotana Group (Saudi Arabia-Egypt), Rowad Media (Saudi Arabia), The Imaginarium Films (Jordan), The Producers (Egypt), The Royal Film Commission-Jordan (RFC) (Jordan), Tripoli Film Festival (Lebanon), and WIKA For Film Production and Distribution (Egypt).

During the festival, the ACC will release the 10th edition of the Arab Cinema Magazine, which covers the ACC's achievements in the past years, along with a special section offering details on the Arab movie theater industry, including box-office statistics and the biggest movie theater chains. Besides, the new issue features an entire section covering everything about the upcoming edition of the Annual Critics Awards and the jury that is joined by new members, bringing 75 film critics from 34 countries together.

The Arab Cinema Center will give the Arab Cinema Personality of The Year award to Screenwriter and Producer Mohamed Hefzy, President of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), presented by The Hollywood Reporter. The award comes as part of the ACC's strategy of promoting the Arab film industry internationally and supporting Arab filmmakers.

The Arab Cinema Center is currently attending the International Film Festival Rotterdam - IFFR. As part of its activities at the festival, producer Amir El-Shenawy is attending the Rotterdam Lab after his feature documentary project The Fountain of Bakhchisarai by director Mohamed Taher won the ACC Award at the Cairo Film Connection (CFC). The award is an invitation given to the winning project's producer to attend the Rotterdam Lab.

Organized by MAD Solutions, this year the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) celebrates its fifth year since its inception in 2015. A nonprofit organization registered in Amsterdam, the ACC is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema as it provides the filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with their counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes. The ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. The ACC's activities vary between film market main wings, introduction and networking sessions for Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, as well as meetings with international organizations and festivals, and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets.

Furthermore, newsletter subscription is now available on the ACC's website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on the ACC's activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from the ACC's partners and their future projects.

The ACC also launched an English-language Arab Cinema Guide, available on its website, which is a comprehensive cinematic guide that comprises a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside of the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers' access to international markets and help film industry representatives to easily identify Arab film productions.

The Arab Cinema Center announced the launch of the MAD 3ARABI (Arab Flow) in Prague, Czech Republic. The festival aims to introduce the Arab culture and focus on the film and TV industry, flowing Arab entertainment and culture onto European shores, and also providing an extension for Arab filmmakers and content creators in the entertainment industry to reach new shores.