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Exclusive: Tunisian-Egyptian actress Hend Sabry, star of Oscar-nominated hybrid doc Four Daughters and Netflix hit show Finding Ola, has signed with Cairo-based talent management and promotional agency Mad Celebrity.

The company will manage and promote the star across the Middle East and North Africa, while CAA, which signed Sabry in 2023, continues to represent her internationally as her talent agent.

Sabry first became a household name across the Arab world with the 2010 Egyptian TV classic Ayza Atgawez, in the role of a young pharmacist desperate to get married before she turns 30. She has since rebooted the character for Netflix in the hit show Finding Ola.

The star joins a growing list of internationally recognized talents from the Arab world on the Mad Celebrity books, including megastar Yousra, the Emmy-nominated Menna Shalaby (Nawara), British Lebanese actress Razane Jammal (The Sandman) and the trail-blazing Saudi artist Fatima Al Banawi (Basma).

Sabry, who has...

Egyptian acting star Mona Zaki did not hold back when she was asked about the new generation of actors in the Arab film industry being consumed by social media and brand deals.

“It’s all fake, from beginning to end,” declared Zaki during a conversation event at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival.

“If the new generation relies purely on social media and brand deals for fame, they’re not going to learn anything. Even if they work with big important brands, they’ll be underpaid because they’re just being given a superficial image,” she continued. “They won’t be able to grow in their career as authentic actors.”

“I don’t really deal with social media, I don’t know how to. I think when people become too obsessed with it, they get stuck in a shallow mindset that doesn’t allow for much personal growth.”

Zaki,...

The Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has revealed the four movies for this year’s Treasures strand, showcasing “timeless classics,” including crime thriller Heat by director Michael Mann, starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight and Val Kilmer.

The film will be screened alongside “three meticulously restored works in collaboration with Egyptian Media Production City,” fest organizers said Monday.

Heat “redefined the genre with its intricate narrative and electrifying performances by Robert De Niro and Al Pacino,” organizers said.

“With Hussein Fawzi’s Bread and Salt, Smile the Photo Comes Out Better, starring the Rsiff honoree and Egyptian film legend Mona Zaki and directed by Sherif Arafa, and Ali Badrakhan’s Shafika and Metwali, personally selected by Mona Zaki, the festival is honoring Egypt’s rich cinematic legacy that has inspired generations of directors, alongside new Egyptian voices and projects across other programming strands,...

Middle East and North Africa film and TV industry veterans Emad Morcos, Amanda Turnbull and Amel Farag have joined forces to launch Mena-focused company Rise Studios, with the aim of breaking fresh ground in the region as a provider of premium content across all genres.

Morcos is a former Chief Content and Commercial Officer at Dubai-based multi-platform entertainment company Orbit Showtime Network (Osn); Turnbull was previously General Manager at Warner Bros Discovery Middle East, Africa and Turkey, and Amel Farag was former Head of Content Commercial Strategy at Osn.

The trio have ambitions to build a company that is capable of producing a steady flow of content across all genres and formats by talents based across the Middle East and North Africa, that is suitable for movie chains, streaming platforms, free-to-air and digital television and social media channels.

“I came from the other side of the equation. I spent many...

Former Warner Bros. Discovery and Osn executives are teaming up to form a new content studio serving the Middle East and North Africa, Variety can reveal.

Rise Studios is being set up by industry veterans Emad Morcos, former Osn chief content and commercial officer; Amanda Turnbull, former general manager at Warner Bros. Discovery Middle East, Africa and Turkey; and Amel Farag, former head of content commercial strategy at Osn.

Rise will invest in local content and talent in order to launch homegrown film and TV productions on both regional and global broadcasters and streaming platforms.

“We’re really committed to the region,” Turnbull tells Variety. “It’s changing so rapidly: Cinema is having a renaissance in the region, and all the streamers are also piling in. There’s increasing opportunity and complexity across the landscape and fantastic ideas we want to tap into.”

The outfit, which plans to cultivate a network of local producers,...

Egypt, which is home to the Middle East and North Africa’s biggest film industry, will not participate in the Best International Film Oscar race this year.

According to Egyptian media reports, confirmed by Deadline, the committee of critics and cinema professionals responsible for selecting the country’s submission decided not to send a film for the lack of a credible candidate.

The four films on the final shortlist comprised Marwan Hamed’s Kira & El Gin, Hadi El-Baghoury’s Full Moon, Sherif Arafa’s The Crime and Magdy Ahmed Ali’s 2 Talaat Harb.

Two films generating potential submission buzz — Nadine Khan’s Abu Saddam and Omar El Zohairy’s Cannes 2021 Critics’ Week winner Feathers — could not be taken into consideration because they did not meet the 2022 theatrical release requirements.

The decision for Egypt to opt out of the race was made at the end of September, but the news has...

The 17th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) has announced its lineup. The festival will run from 7th to 14th December, 2012 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Some of the highlights of the lineup are festival favourites of the year Amour, Chitrangada, Samhita, The Sapphires, Drapchi, Miss Lovely, Me and You, Celluloid Man, and Baandhon.

Fourteen films will screen in the Competition section while seven contemporary films will be screened in “Indian Cinema Now” section.

Complete list of films:

Competition Films

Fourteen feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America will compete for the coveted “Suvarna Chakoram” (Golden Crow Pheasant) and other awards.

Always Brando by Ridha Behi (Tunisia)

Inheritors of the Earth by T V Chandran (India)

A Terminal Trust by by Masayuki Suo (Japan)

Shutter by Joy Mathew (India)

Today by Alain Gomis (Senegal-France)

The Repentant by Merzak Allouache (Algeria)

Sta. Niña by Manny Palo (Philippines)

Present Tense...

A record 67 countries have submitted films for consideration for best foreign-language film for the 81st Academy Awards, Academy president Sid Ganis said Friday. Nominations will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22, and the awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 22.

The complete list of foreign-language submissions follows. For more details on some of the films, visit THR.com/foreignoscars.

Afghanistan, "Opium War," Siddiq Barmak

Albania, "The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider," Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani

Algeria, "Masquerades," Lyes Salem

Argentina, "Lion's Den," Pablo Trapero

Austria, "Revanche," Gotz Spielmann

Azerbaijan, "Fortress," Shamil Nacafzada

Bangladesh, "Aha!," Enamul Karim Nirjhar

Belgium, "Eldorado," Bouli Lanners

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Snow," Aida Begic

Brazil, "Last Stop 174," Bruno Barreto

Bulgaria, "Zift," Javor Gardev

Canada, "The Necessities of Life," Benoit Pilon

Chile, "Tony Manero," Pablo Larrain

China, "Dream Weavers," Jun Gu

Colombia, "Dog Eat Dog," Carlos Moreno

Croatia, "No One's Son," Arsen Anton Ostojic

Czech Republic, "The Karamazovs," Petr Zelenka

Denmark,...