Moderated by Ryan Ashore, head of Red Sea Labs, the panel titled Talent Hot List: Showcasing Arab Cinema's Golden New Wave took place last Saturday (31 August) at Hotel Excelsior, Spazio Incontri.

Organized by The Arab Cinema Centre (ACC) in collaboration with MAD Celebrity, the panel was part of the Final Cut, Venice's industry segment, and its Venice Production Bridge.

The panel featured some of the best-known Arab talents working on both sides of the camera: Tunisian actor and director Dhafer L'Abidine, Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha, Saudi Arabian actress and screenwriter Summer Shesha, and Co-Founder of the ACC and MAD Solutions Alaa Karkouti.

They were joined via Zoom by the Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek and British-Lebanese TV personality Raya Abirached.

Speakers discussed what can be coined "the second golden age of Arab cinema," reflecting on the increasing number of Arab films and Arab filmmakers celebrated at international film festivals. They also discussed the recent commercial Arab films and their performance at the regional box offices.

The panel mentioned several titles that reached international festivals this year.

Cannes Film Festival screened Egyptian films, such as The Brink of Dreams by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir and East of Noon by Hala Elkoussy.

Venice Film Festival also screens titles from Egypt: Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo by Khaled Mansour and Perfumed by Mint by Muhammed Hamdy.

In addition, Venice also presents works from other Arab countries: Aicha (Tunisia) by Mehdi Barsaoui; Sudan, Remember Us (Tunisia) by Hind Meddeb; and Happy Holidays (Palestine) by Scandar Copti.

"How to reach the international level?" was the leading question, which reflects the thoughts of many young talents nowadays.

Ryan Ashour started by replying that the success is linked to "a perception created by an artist himself. We still need to define the meaning of success, and go back to that question from time to time to educate young talents." 

Dora Bouchoucha highlighted that "Arab and African films are doing well," referring to the last two decades of the mentioned industries. "Some of them are screened internationally, others remain in the region. However, if a film does not make it internationally, it doesn’t mean it is not a successful work," speaking about the measurement of success. 

Raya Abirached underlined the increasing presence of Arab filmmakers in international festivals. "Streaming platforms helped a lot in introducing Arab talents to international cinematic events. There is already big awareness about actors coming from the Arab world, the rest is just a question of time," she said.

"I don’t think we should be worried about 'the international level' as much as we should focus on reaching the international exposure. We have extremely talented actors, we just lack exposure," she reiterated.

International festivals: a double-edged sword
 

The panellist noted that film festivals play an essential role in introducing Arab filmmakers and talents to the international scene.

Summer Shesha, a young emerging Saudi actress and screenwriter, sees festivals as a good opportunity for her to learn and work on her skills.

"In Saudi we started to speak the cinema language five years ago. Attending festivals is like attending a high school where we further learn how to speak a cinematic language and see how others speak it too. Through the exposure across festivals, we are training and getting better."

For his part, actor and director Dhafer L'Abidine challenged this belief that festivals have a positive effect only on the industry.

"Festivals are part of the solution but also part of the problem," he said.

"In the festivals, we are seen in a specific way. As a result, it happens often that our directors and writers make films to cater to the festivals' expectations and way of looking at the Arab film industry."

Dhafer referred to festivals and funds that encourage — and limit — the filmmakers to write about women's issues, ethnic problems, gay relationships in the Middle East, and other similar topics that are picked just to please Western audiences.

Freeing oneself from the 'colonial mindset'
 

Young Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek had two films screened in Venice. In 2020, he starred in the Australian adventure drama The Furnace (directed by Roderick MacKay), which was selected in Orizzonti, and this year he stars in a film project in post-production titled My Father’s Scent. The latter is by Mohamed Siam, which competes for the Final Cut funding awards.

Malek believes festivals are a great opportunity to get introduced to people from around the world, but, as he explains, "he doesn’t work on a film just to get to a festival; he does it because of the film itself."

“My Father's Scent is a very special film about a father-son relationship and masculinity. I think manhood and masculinity are a big issue in the whole world, not only in the Arab world," Malek added.

The actor noted the importance of an actor to work on his craft and develop his skills all the time. "It’s the actor's job as an artist, regardless of his ethnicity. I think the division of the international scene based on ethnicity — Arabs or others — carries political and geopolitical stamps."

He concluded by saying, "The need to reach the Western audience is just an extension to a colonial mindset. In today's world, Western societies have many cultures integrated into them. The cultural diversity is being reflected in the cinema now."