The 78th Venice International Film Festival (September 1 - 11) announced an open call for Arab and African film projects at its prestigious Final Cut in Venice workshop (September 5-7) that aims to support Arab films in the post-production stage. MAD Solutions and El Gouna Film Festival, partners of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), will also continue to offer prizes for Arab film projects participating in the Final Cut.

For the seventh year, MAD Solutions offers its award that is represented in promotion and distribution services in the Arab world to one winner project. This is also the fifth year for El Gouna Film Festival to present its monetary award of 5000 USD within the workshop, in addition to an invitation for the winning project to participate in CineGouna Platform. Applications are open until 12 June, 2020.

The award offered by MAD Solutions comes as part of the company's strategy to support the Arab film industry through its different production stages internationally and regionally and to promote them on the long run. The company previously offered similar awards at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, where the award was dedicated to films from the Maghreb region, the MAFF Market Forum (MMF) of the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, the Palestine Cinema Days, and the Festival National du Film Professional Meetings in Tangier, Morocco.

As for El Gouna Film Festival, it offers monetary prizes for Arab film projects in international platforms, such as the MAFF Market Forum (MMF) of the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden, Latin Arab Co-Production Forum, Beirut Cinema Platform, CineGouna Platform, in addition to Final Cut in Venice.

The 9th Final Cut in Venice workshop supports films in the post-production stage from Africa, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. The film selections are screened to an audience of producers, distributors and programmers of international film festivals. The workshop concludes with an award ceremony to honor the winning films that will be supported through the post-production phase.

The Final Cut in Venice aims to develop the role of the Venice International Film Festival to become a bridge that supports independent filmmaking in these countries by providing effective production support and promoting the films on the international market level.

Organized by MAD Solutions, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) was launched 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 pavilions, orientation 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.