Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit MAD Solutions has acquired rights for Arab territories to Venice competition entry “Les Miens” (“Our Ties”), directed by French actor and filmmaker of Moroccan descent Roschdy Zem.
“Our Ties” is co-written by Zem with actor/director Maïwenn (“Polisse,” “Mon Roi”), who co-stars.
Zem is a French cinema fixture, having starred in pics including “Other People’s Children” and directed several films including 2019’s “Persona Non Grata.”
“Ties” is a drama about family dynamics centered around a man played by Sami Bouajila whose personality changes radically after he suffers a head injury. Zem plays his TV presenter brother.
MAD Solutions acquired Zem’s latest film from Wild Bunch.
“Ties” is one of four films in different sections at Venice that MAD Solutions will be releasing across the Arab world. The others are: Syrian director Soudade Kaadan’s “Nezouh,” the follow up to her splashy debut, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” which won Venice’s Lion of the Future prize in 2018; Lebanese director Wissam Charaf’s “Dirty, Difficult Dangerous,” which has opened this year’s Horizons Extra competition; and dark comedy “Inshallah A Boy” by Jordan’s Amjad Al Rasheed, which is screening as a work-in-progress at the Final Cut in Venice platform for works from Arab countries in post.
“Arab cinema has a strong presence at Venice,” said MAD Solutions co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, noting the their expanding company will be handling regional releases of most of the Arab titles launching from the Lido.
“We strive to continuously collaborate with the most prominent Arab and international names in the film industry,” they added.