MAD Solutions wins two awards at 2nd Ghent International Short Film Festival

release date March 27 2024

MAD Solutions concludes March on a triumphant note with two of its short films — FORSAKEN and THE RED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY — winning two prestigious awards at the highly esteemed second edition of the Ghent International Short Film Festival.

The winning films were announced last Sunday at the closing ceremony, with FORSAKEN receiving Best Narrative Film and THE RED SEA MAKE ME WANNA CRY clinching the Best Connecting Cultures Film Award.

Written and directed by the talented Aziz Shennawy, who’s known for his award-winning film KORRINTY — which received the Award of Merit at the Global Shorts in Los Angeles — FORSAKEN is headlined by Tunisian superstar Kmar Ben Soltane, who is renowned for her outstanding performances in Emna Najjar's WALTZ OF THE DAWN and the highly successful 2018 Ramadan series CHOUERREB 1.

The film follows the captivating journey of Meriem — a 30-year-old woman who embarks on a vacation only to stumble upon the lifeless body of a Sub-Saharan African man right in front of her balcony. Upon discovering the victim's identity, Meriem is faced with a conundrum.

FORSAKEN sheds light on the discrimination faced by Sub-Saharan immigrants in Tunisia, exploring the complex dynamics between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Meanwhile, THE RED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY, which is directed, written, and co-produced by Faris Alrjoob and co-written by Matthew LaPaglia, has recently taken home the El Gouna Film Festival's Silver Star for Short Films during its successful festival tour that included stops at the Deutsche Kurzfilmpreis, Florence Short, Dublin, and Ibiza Independent film festivals.

The romantic thriller — which is also one of the two first-ever Jordanian films to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival — follows a haunted Ida, who travels to the liminal site of her partner’s disappearance in an attempt to feel his presence one last time and to say goodbye.

Starring burgeoning young Jordanian actor Mohamed Nizar, German actress Clara Schwinning, and Emmy-nominated American-Palestinian-Kuwaiti journalist-actor Ahmed Shihab Eldin and Anwar Khalil, the short film was produced by top German film school Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.