The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for awarding the Oscars, has announced that 12 Arab filmmakers have become its members in the categories of Writing, Directing, Acting, Documentary, Animation and Production. Six of the Academy's new members were on The 100 Most Important Names in the Arab Film Industry list that was featured in the eighth issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine launched by the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

The New Arab Members Who Joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

Writing and Directing: Lebanese Director Ziad Doueiri
Writing: Lebanese Screenwriter Joelle Touma
Directing: Palestinian Director Annemarie Jacir, Lebanese Director Nadine Labaki
Acting: Algerian Actress Sofia Boutella, Palestinian Actress Hiam Abbas
Documentary: Tunisian Producer Dora Bouchoucha,Syrian Director Feras Fayyad, Egyptian Director Mohamed Siam
Production: Lebanese Producer Antoun Sehnaoui, Tunisian Producer Saïd Ben Saïd
Animation: Egyptian Disney Animator Yasser Hamed

Six of these names were listed on The 100 Most Important Names in the Arab Film Industry, and they are Ziad Doueiri, Dora Bouchoucha, Annemarie Jacir, Nadine Labaki, Hiam Abbas and Feras Fayyad. The list also featured non-Arab filmmakers who contributed to the success of the Arab film industry, such as Producer Roman Paul, who was featured in the producers section of The 100 Most Important Names in the Arab Film Industry list.

The New Arab Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
http://www.app.oscars.org/newmembers2018/

The 100 Most Important Names in the Arab Film Industry: http://acc.film/cannes-100.php

The 100 Most Important Names in the Arab Film Industry includes names that represent themselves or entities they work for. The names were all chosen for their contributions to Arab-language cinema in the past twelve months. They are ordered alphabetically by first names and grouped together alongside their immediate peers.

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 ACC'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'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.