The Sixth Issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine at the Venice International Film Festival Then at the Toronto International Film Festival

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Arab Stars in the upcoming Festival Circuit of 2017 and the Ultimate Arab Guide for Oscar Consideration

The Sixth Issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine at the Venice International Film Festival Then at the Toronto International Film Festival


The sixth issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine will be rolled out at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, then at the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival.The new issue of the magazine, released by the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), brings highlights on a variety of topics; the presence of Arab celebrities at the upcoming film festivals in 2017, a guide, the first of its kind in the Arab film industry, to the Arab films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a list of the Arab films that won the annual Critics Awards, a cinematic look to the refugee crisis, along with a round-table discussion with three directors of key international film festivals.

In his introductory statement of the new issue, Film expert Colin Brown, Managing Partner and Director of International Operations at MAD Solutions, and also the magazine's Editorial Director, focused on the Amman International Film Festival- Awal Film, which launches its first edition in Jordan in 2018. Brown says about the hosting city of the festival, "In so many ways Amman's split personality between old and new is a perfect metaphor for cinema itself that at its best blends fresh voices and visions with storytelling traditions that stretch back to antiquity."

A number of 17 Arab filmmakers have joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the last five years and became qualified to select the nominated and winning films for the Oscars. The new issue offered a brief introduction about these Academy members with statistics of the Arab films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, where the magazine tries to find an answer to the question "why don't Arabs win this award?". And with the beginning of the Oscar season for selecting the films representing Arab countries, the magazine gives some tips to Arab filmmakers and the national selection committees to improve the films' chances of winning the award.

On the occasion of adding two new European film festivals to the ACC's roadmap, the new issue casted light on the ten Arab filmmakers whose careers were launched through the San Sebastián International Film Festival over the last decade, as well as the seven successful Arab films that benefited from its screenings at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival representing the fruitful Arab- Greek co-productions.

On a virtual round-table discussion, the magazine conducted interviews with festival directors of key film festivals: International Film Festival Rotterdam (Bero Beyer), Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) (Dieter Kosslick) and Malmö Arab Film Festival (Mouhamad Keblawi). The discussion was about the advantages of Arab cinema, its attractive elements from the perspectives of the directors, the best Arab films screened at their festivals and the missing elements from Arab films in general.

And through the film programmes announced by each of the Venice, Toronto and Malmo film festivals, the magazine presented ten Arab celebrities who are going to have strong presence at these festivals, including; stars Yasmin Raeis, Saba Mubarak and Ahmed Malek, directors Hany Abu-Assad, Abdellatif Kechiche, Ziad Doueiri, Haifaa Al Mansour, Mahdi Fleifel and Mohamed Al-Daradji.

The Arab Cinema Center (ACC), which operates for the third year and is organized by MAD Solutions, is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema that 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, 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 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.

Since the beginning of 2017, the ACC has made ten stops at international festivals and markets. The festivals attended are the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR), Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), Beirut Cinema Platform (BCP) held within the Beirut Cinema Days, Istanbul Film Festival, Tripoli Film Festival, the 34th WIPO SCCR in Geneva, Cannes Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Eurasia International Film Festival, and the Festival del film Locarno.