Arab Cinema, Variety join forces for filmmaker award – Tyro Helmer Kaylif wins IWC award
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LOS ANGELES, Dec 12, (RTRS): The Arab Cinema Center and Variety have joined forces to jointly present Variety’s Arab Filmmaker of the Year Award during the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.
The nod was previously a fixture of the Abu Dhabi film fest, which shuttered earlier this year.
Furthermore, the ACC has announced a year-round partnership with Variety as its media partner during 2016. The pact is being forged by innovative Cairo and Abu Dhabi-based film marketing and distribution company MAD Solutions, which launched the ACC, a first-of-its-kind Arab umbrella group, at the Berlin festival earlier this year.
“Variety is always keen on supporting emerging Arab filmmaking talent and encouraging the growth of the Arab film business,” said MAD topper Alaa Karkouti in a statement. “We’re thrilled to form this partnership and we’re looking forward to extending it into a number of activities throughout the year.”
“The new initiatives recently announced by the ACC confirm a strong intent to champion Arab filmmakers to a global industry audience,” said Alberto Lopez, international director of Variety. “We look forward to honoring the Variety Arab Filmmaker of the Year at the Berlin Film Festival and at one of the industry’s most influential markets.
The Arab Cinema Cinema Center has rapidly expanded its scope since its launch, and in 2016 will be present in more than 15 major festivals and international film markets across the world.
Layla Kaylif received the 4th IWC Filmmaker Award sponsored by Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen at the 12th Dubai Intl Film Festival. The Emirati director Kaylif won the award for her film “The Letter Writer.”
“This year, yet again, we have received numerous applications for great films that have immensely impressed us. We are proud to see the talents of the region take such great steps forward, and we look forward to further supporting and contributing to the art of filmmaking in the region as a whole,” IWC Schaffhausen CEO Georges Kern said.
This marks the fourth year IWC Schaffhausen has collaborated with DIFF to recognize a filmmaker. Three directors were shortlisted for the award, including Qatari director Khalifa Al Muraikhi for “Sahaab,” Saudi director Shahad Ameen for “Scales” and winner Kaylif, whose drama tells the story of a young, professional letter writer, Khalifa, and his pursuit of Elli, his secret love.
Kaylif founded Canopus Films, a Dubai-based film production company. The IWC Schaffhausen award comes with a $100,000 prize.
An imprisoned woman creates magic and color for her child who knows nothing about the outside world — like the awards season favorite “Room,” the Palestinian drama “3000 Nights,” pictured, is about a woman who finds her strength through resilience and resistance. It marks the feature debut of acclaimed documentary helmer Mai Masri and makes its Arab-world premiere as part of the Muhr feature competition at the Dubai Intl Film Festival.
The Nablus-born, California-trained Masri was inspired by the true story of a young Palestinian mother who gave birth to her son in an Israeli prison during the 1980s. “Because the events took place so many years ago, the best way I could bring the story to life was to recreate it as a narrative with a location, characters and drama,” says Masri. “I wanted to give myself the freedom to explore the imagination and inner world of my characters. I also wanted my audience to live the story in real time with the emotion, passion and imagination that a dramatic fiction film can evoke.”
Prominent Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy’s recently launched, Dubai-based Fortress Film Clinic shingle is set to make the Arab worlds first zombie comedy, Zombie Gozombie, to be directed by versatile auteur Ahmad Abdalla, known on the fest circuit for Microphone, about Egypts hip-hop scene, Rags & Tatters and melodrama Decor.
The plan is to start shooting next year on the pic, which will star popular Egyptian thesp Ahmed el-Fishawy (Cairo 678 ). El-Fishawy will also co-produce via his Crystal Dog shingle.
The script is by young Egyptian cartoonist comic and screenwriter Kafr al-Sheikh, known as Andeel, whose satirical work has gained prominence since Egypt’s 2011 revolution. He has a hot online radio show.
Ahmad Abdalla in my opinion never makes a movie just for the sake of being funny or entertaining. He’s always the kind of director who has his voice in the story, said Hefzy. This film is more than it just seems: there is something slightly political about a zombie movie coming out of the Middle East today, even though he is trying to hide that.
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