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Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit Mad Solutions has acquired rights for Arab territories to three films that celebrated their premieres this year at the Cannes and Venice film festivals.

The deals include Fyzal Boulifa’s “The Damned Don’t Cry,” which bowed in the Venice Days sidebar at the Italian fest and will have its Middle East and North Africa premiere at Marrakech before traveling to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Also acquired was Rachid Hami’s “For My Country,” a Venice Horizons selection that will have its regional premiere at the Cairo Film Festival.

The company also picked up the rights to Clément Cogitore’s “Sons of Ramses,” which had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week strand.

“We are delighted to have acquired the distribution rights to three artistically distinguished films in 2022, which is considered the climax of our efforts in...

Exclusive: Five days before filmmaker Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) was ready to declare “Action, background action” on the set of The Swimmers, the film fell apart due to the pandemic. “We just thought it was curtains for the film, which was heartbreaking,” the director recalled. “It just came to a halt, and there could be no promises of anything for anyone.”

The film, which opened the Toronto Film Festival on Thursday night, had been set up at Working Title with backing from Focus Features.

Toronto Film Festival 2022 Photo Gallery: Daniel Radcliffe And Weird Al Yankovic; ‘The Swimmers’, ‘On The Come Up’, ‘Handmaid’s Tale’, More

It already was a bit of a gamble before Covid reared its head. The story of two sisters, Yusra and Sarah Mardini — who left war-torn Syria to make a perilous journey across the Aegean Sea to Eastern Europe, and then, by hook or by crook,...

The Princess of Tides: Dagher Can’t Go Home Again in Broody Beirut

For his directorial debut, The Sea Ahead, Ely Dagher expands on the themes evident in his earlier short films, including the 2015 Palme d’Or winning short Waves ’98, where a sense of isolation and alienation are the pervasive sentiments dictating his characters’ experiences in Beirut. Headlined by a stand-out Manal Issa, the narrative plays out in what could potentially be assumed semi-autobiographical flourishes as it concerns a prodigal daughter who unexpectedly returns to her parents’ home after a stint abroad without any explanation, only to be greeted by ghostly feelings she never laid to rest.…...

Summer is around the corner, which means Rooftop Films is almost back. New York cinephiles can look forward to another season of film screenings from the longtime nonprofit, which screens independent films in a variety of outdoor locations throughout New York City. Over time, Rooftop Films has become an essential institution in the indie film world, helping top directors get their work seen while connecting undiscovered artists to the resources that they need.

Notable films on the year’s lineup include Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher,” a Sundance horror hit in the tradition of paranoid classics like “Rosemary’s Baby;” James Morosini’s “I Love My Dad,” a comedy that took the top prizes in the Narrative category at SXSW; and Andrew Semans’ “Resurrection,” a psychological thriller that earned high marks from critics and fans alike at Sundance this year.

Tickets for select upcoming screenings are on sale now via the Rooftop Films website,...

It’s a compact ten offerings that make up the short films selection over at the Directors’ Fortnight. The eyebrow-raiser goes to Radu Jude – who has been “banging” out a bunch of short films since the release of 2021’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. His The Potemkinists looks at the defiant gesture against Russia made in 1905 by the sailors from the Potemkin Cruiser – they would receive political asylum in Jude’s native Romania. With renewed interested in the life of Maria Schneider (Jessica Palud’s biopic with Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria will premiere next year), Elisabeth Subrin continues to dissect the life of an actress with Maria Schneider, 1983 — you’ll see The Sea Ahead actress Manal Issa (image above), Aïssa Maiga and filmmaker Isabel Sandoval) in the film.…...