The Muscat Festival Screens Six Films from MAD Solutions' List

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Foreign Body| Heaven Sent| The Journey| 17| Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc| 300 KM

The Muscat Festival Screens Six Films from MAD Solutions' List


Six films distributed by MAD Solutions will take part in the Muscat Festival that will be held from the 26th to the 31st of March, in the Sultanate of Oman. The MAD lineup at the festival includes; Foreign Body by director Raja Amari, Heaven Sent by director Wissam Charaf, The Journey by director Mohamed Al Daradji, 17 by director Widad Shafakoj, Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc by director Iman Kamel, and 300 KM by director Mohammed Alholayyil.

Since its inception in 1998, the Muscat Festival has proved to be more than just a celebratory, cultural and artistic event, and an entertaining forum in which civilizations come together, involving multilingual activities.

About Foreign Body

The film follows the first months in France of Samia, a young illegal immigrant who ran away from her brother. Haunted by the fear of being followed by her extremist brother whom she had denounced to the authorities, Samia first finds refuge at Imed's home, a former acquaintance from her village, before ending up working for the rich widow Leila. These new meetings mingle with her headlong flight, where desire enhances tensions.

Foreign Body is written and directed by Raja Amari, and stars Palestinian eminent actress Hiam Abbass, Sarah Hannachi, Salim Kechiouche, and Majd Mastoura. The film is co-produced by Dora Bouchoucha and Dominique Besnéhard. MAD Solutions is responsible for the film's distribution in the Arab world.
The film has been selected at many international film festivals including the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), and made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

About Heaven Sent:

After 20 years apart, Samir a former militiaman who was presumed dead reappears in the life of Omar, his little brother who has become a bodyguard in Beirut. Between drama and comedy, Samir has to come to terms with a country he no longer recognizes.

Scripted by Mariette Désert and the film's director Wissam Charaf, Heaven Sent stars Raed Yassin, Said Serhan, Yumna Marwan, Rodrigue Sleiman and George Melki. The film is a Lebanese-French co-production between Aurora Films and Né à Beyrouth. MAD Solutions is responsible for the film's distribution in the Arab world.

Heaven Sent had its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival within the Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion (ACID) section. Recently, the film was screened at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

About The Journey:

As Sara stands on the cusp of committing an unthinkable act, an unforeseen and awkward encounter gives her the opportunity to witness the potential consequences of her destructive action. But, is this a second chance or an admission of guilt?

The Journey is directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji, who co-writes and co-produces the film with Isabelle Stead. The film stars Zahraa Ghandour and Ameer Jbara and produced by Human Film, Iraqi Independent Film Center (IIFC) in cooperation with Lionceau Films, Iraq Al-Rafidain and Iraqi Media Network. The film received grants from the Doha Film Institute,AFAC - The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, World Cinema Fund, the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image Animée (CNC) and the French Institute (IF) of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Netherlands Film Fund, SANAD Development Fund (Abu Dhabi Film Festival) and Screen Yorkshire. MAD Solutions handling the distribution of the film through the Arab world.

The Journey landed its Arab world premiere at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) within the Muhr Feature Competition. The film competed in the official competitions of the BFI London Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. Most recently, the film has won the Special Jury Award at the Sham El-Sheikh Film Festival and will land its U.S premiere at the Miami Film Festival. Simultaneously, The Journey was released in Iraqi cinemas.

About 17:

17 follows the Jordanian under-17 women's football team as they prepare for the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup Jordan 2016. Coming from different backgrounds, each of the girls has faced a different set of challenges as a national team player. But now they come together to face their biggest challenge yet. 17 is a social exploration into the lives of young women who are passionate about a sport they have been told was only for men. Will Anoud make it in the final squad? Will Leen be ready to play in this world-class event with so little time to prepare? Will the odds finally start working for the team?

The film is directed by Widad Shafakoj, produced by Muna Fityani and distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions. In 2017, the film took part in the Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia and the Arab Film Festival in California, USA.

About Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc

The documentary film Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc tells the true stories of resistance by Egyptian women since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011 through mythic story elements, poetic narration and dance. The film is directed by Iman Kamel, and co-produced by Nomad's Home Production (Iman Kamel) and Linked Productions (Talal Al-Muhanna). The film marks Iman's second collaboration with Kuwaiti producer Talal Al-Muhanna. MAD Solutions is responsible for the film's distribution in the Arab world.

Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc was nominated for the 2013 Arab-German Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation in Germany. The film was presented at pitching and co-production forums such as Africa Produce (Spain), and Amiens Screenplay Development Fund (France).

About 300 KM:

Hailing from a conservative community, a man, woman and child are forced to travel together in a small car to undertake the journey over a 300-km long stretch of road.

300 KM stars Khaled Alsaqr, Zara Albalushi, and Ibrahim Alhajjaj. The film is written, directed and produced by Mohammed Alholayyil and distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions. The film landed its world premiere at the 2016 Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) where it won the Jury Award within the Muhr Feature Competition.