Now in its second appearance at a major international film festival, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) continues fostering opportunities for Arab filmmakers at the Cannes Film Market (Marché du Film), this time in partnership with Variety Magazine, the world's most esteemed entertainment magazine since 1905. This partnership was made possible through MAD Solutions, which organizes this unique congregation of Arab film professionals as part of its strategy to support and promote Arab filmmaking industry in the region and beyond.

Abdallah Al Shami, MAD Solutions' Managing Partner for its GCC Bureau in the UAE, welcomed the partnership in a statement in which he said: "It is really great to be in partnership with the most prestigious media outlet in the field of cinema and entertainment, which I think validates the Arab World's importance to the entertainment industry. Our partnership with Variety is evidence that Arab filmmaking is surely making its mark in the international arena."

Alberto Lopez, Variety's International Director, also added, "Variety has always been an ardent supporter of Arab cinema and Arab filmmakers and our numerous editorial spotlights and regional festival partnerships have always been designed to promote Arab talent globally. We are naturally thrilled to partner with the Cinema Center as it makes its debut in Cannes 2015. We look forward to reporting on the many interesting and thought-provoking projects to come from the region."

Taking part in the second edition of the ACC are 18 companies and organizations from 8 Arab and European countries, with a variety of activities such as production, distribution, funding and promotion of Arab cinema, such as: Ministry of Interior's Cinema Award (UAE), Film Clinic (Egypt), Imaginarium Films (Jordan), The Producers (Egypt, UAE), Crystal Dog (Egypt), International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva (Switzerland), The Friends (Egypt), Seat 26 (Lebanon), True Motion (Egypt), The Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), Cinema Akil (UAE), Silk Road Film Festival (Ireland), Luxor African Film Festival ETISAL Market Fund (Egypt), Salam PROD (Egypt), The Iraqi Independent Film Centre (Iraq), Free TV (Egypt) , MAD Solutions (Egypt, UAE) and Rotana (KSA).

The ACC is a professional platform for promoting Arab cinema at international film festivals, providing Arab filmmakers with opportunities to communicate with the cinema industry all over the world through its diverse events and activities, and explore and network with the international film industry professionals, production companies' representatives, distribution slates and organizations investing in co-productions.

The activities of the ACC will range from market screenings for Arabic films, meetings with international film companies and organization during the period of the festival to throwing a reception and issuing an ACC guide to be distributed on the participants of the festival's market.

This second edition of the ACC comes after the success of the first one at the European Film Market (EFM) during the Berlin International Film Festival last February, which included 11 companies and organizations involved in cinematic industries in the Arab world, where the average daily visitor reached over 1500 people, and more than 20 international film festivals have shown interest in the ACC to encourage the participation of more Arab films.

Cannes Film Market is the biggest film market in the world, which saw more than 960 films presented last year. It was established in 1959 to serve the many disciplines of the filmmaking community. Annually, the market attracts more than 10,000 filmmakers representing the Cinema in more than 100 countries. This year, the Cannes Film Market will take place between
May (13- 22).

You can follow the ACC's latest news and updates on official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ArabCinemaCenter and website: www.arabcinemacenter.com