While getting ready to start its activities at the 71st Cannes Film Festival (May 8-19), the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has released the eighth issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine. The new issue casts light on the Arab films selected at the Cannes Film Festival, offers a directory for the Arab films that toured the international festival circuit through May 2017/2018, in addition to other topics related to the festival and the Arab film industry.

Film expert Colin Brown, Managing Partner and Director of International Operations at MAD Solutions, and the magazine's editorial director, says, "As you will have seen from our magazine cover, this edition is devoted to Cannes and the +100 Arabs whose international influence over the past twelve months will have had the biggest impact on what happens during the festival and beyond across the industry. So much can change in twelve months, which is why we felt it high time to take stock of those movers and shakers at what seems like a pivotal moment in history."

Maher Diab, Art Director and Co-founder of MAD Solutions and the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), comments, "This issue is special to me, because it celebrates a successful year for Arab cinema, in which Arab films won many awards while touring international film festivals. This issue shows appreciation to Arab achievements during this year and to people behind these achievements."

The new issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine is featuring an entire section dedicated to the new edition of the Cannes Film Festival covering its key selections, activities, updates and highlights as well as prominent names that contributed to the festival's success. Besides, it offers a list of the most important international and Arab filmmakers that the festival helped discover since their first or early works.

A first-of-its-kind event in the Arab world, the new issue introduces The 100 Most Important Names in the Arab Film Industry. The list included directors, screenwriters, actors/actresses, producers, festival directors and festival presidents, distributors, platform directors, funders, key names in Arab governmental film commissions, international sales agents, and directors of film institutions and organizations.

The eighth issue also offers a detailed directory of the Arab films that toured international film festivals during May 2017/2018 and important films that won awards and received international recognition.

Moreover, the magazine's new issue dedicated an article about distinguished Film Critic and Media Figure Youssef Cherif Rizkallah,who received the Achievement Award for Film Critics, presented by the Arab Cinema Center, to honor his important career in shaping the awareness of more than a generation in the Arab world about cinema culture.In addition topresenting the final list of the 2nd Annual Critics Awards nominees, who come from eight Arab countries, and was selected by 62 film critics from 28 countries around the world through voting.

Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (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 Center'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 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.