MAD Solutions, a rapidly growing manufacturing and distribution company based in Egypt, expanded its reach by acquiring a stake in D Street Releasing, a revitalized Arthouse dealer based in New York.
The deal, which was announced at Cannes, gives MAD a critical step forward in the competitive US art sector, where Arab cinema has so far relied heavily on festival exposure. Financial details were not disclosed.
As part of the new partnership, MAD plans to release 5-7 films by top directors from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other non-Arabic-speaking countries to North American audiences each year.
AD Street Releasing, which has been largely dormant in recent years, is a division of D Street Media Group, a subsidiary of the music production, distribution and publishing company in the US, Germany, Ecuador, Argentina and South Africa.
The deal came after MAD co-founders Alaa Karkut and Maher Diab met with D Street founding CEO Dexter Davis and his partner Silvana Santamaria last year at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. Saudi.
“After a lull in the theatrical distribution business, I am very excited about this reboot with vision partners Alaa and Maher, who bring rich regional experience, creative connections and marketing expertise to the company,” said Davis. “This historic partnership will allow the American public to better understand our Arabs and sisters through powerful stories.” Breaking stereotypes and prejudices is a key part of our mandate, and with the support and resources of MAD Solutions, I believe we can achieve this goal.”
The newly launched company has already purchased five titles slated to be released in theaters in 2022 and is now actively looking for more. Included in five titles Abdulrahman’s daughterswhich won the Audience Award at the San Diego Arab Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Cairo International Film Festival; chainsWhich had several screenings at international festivals, including Locarno and Zurich, and Bara El Manhag, whose world premiere took place at the closing ceremony of the inaugural edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival. In addition, he bought two terrorist projects from Saudi Arabia, the last exorcist s Al Azif.
“It is exciting to be based in Egypt and to establish a significant position in the US distribution market through D Street Releasing. We have learned a lot about the functionality and growth of MAD Solutions and we believe that we can use the set of experienced and sophisticated skills accumulated to advance the agenda with the content of Dexter and Silvana from the Arab world, especially with the exciting voices that now come from Saudi Arabia. . Said Karkut, who will join the D Street Release Board with Diab, along with MAD’s international managing partner Colin Brown, who is involved in the strategic plans for the new partnership. “Arab cinema is just a starting point. “I know there are a lot of films from Africa and Europe that will never make it to the United States, and of course we want to pick up where the company left off and break new theatrical paths for good stories everywhere.”
MAD Solutions receives this year the premiere of a Tunisian feature film under the fig treesDirected by Erige Sehir, as part of the Director’s Day. It is also the creative and operational force of the Arab Film Center, a regional umbrella for Arab cinema that has a well-known market stall in Pale.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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