Continuing to support Arab cinema, the Arab Cinema Center revealed selecting Saudi film producer Mohammed Alhamoud and his Jordanian counterpart Rand Beiruty to be part of the Rotterdam Lab (1- 5 February) held within the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

This comes as part of a partnership between the Arab Cinema Center and the Rotterdam Lab that was initiated in 2016, which contributed to the participation of several Arab producers at the prestigious workshop.

Mohammed Alhamoud is a Saudi film producer who founded the Riyadh-based production house, Last Scene Films in Riyadh, KSA, specialized in producing independent arthouse features, documentaries, and short films. The company's debut features is Last Visit by director Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan, marking the first Arab film selected at East of the West competition in Karlovy Varry International Film Festival and the Jury Award winner at Marrakech International Film Festival. The company produced several award-winning films, including Ertidad by Mohammed Alhamoud, which marks the first Saudi film at Claremont Font for short films.

Rand Beiruty has studied at several schools, workshops, including the Berlinale Talents, Beirut Talent, Film Leader Incubator Asia, Documentary Campus, Locarno Documentary School and Ji.hlava Academy. She’s now developing her first feature documentary titled Tell Them About Us that won her the Arab Cinema Magazine award at Cairo Film Connection, within Cairo International Film Festival.

Organized by Cinemart, the Rotterdam Lab will be launched virtually this year as part of the Rotterdam Film Festival (IFFR). A five-day training workshop for promising emerging producers from all over the world, the Rotterdam Lab offers a place to over 74 producers from over 40 countries. The aim of Rotterdam Lab is to provide emerging professionals with the means to build and develop an international network with providing confidence and skills to navigate the world of international film financing, sales and distribution.

Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is 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 markets, stands, and pavilions, networking sessions and one-on-one meetings bringing together 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, and highlights from the ACC's partners and their 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 Arab filmmakers' access to international markets and help international film industry representatives to easily identify Arab film productions