Prominent Arab talent management agency and film distribution company MAD Solutions is launching MAD Crew Celebrity, a new unit dedicated to boosting the careers of Arab directors and producers, as well as writers, cinematographers, costume designers, composers and editors.
MAD Crew Celebrity comes after the company in 2020 formed its MAD Rising Celebrity division, dedicated to launching up-and-coming film and TV acting talents from across the Arab world, which in turn was a specialized spin-off of its core MAD Celebrity unit for top-tier acting and TV hosting talents.
Their client list at launch includes top directors Hany Abu-Assad (“The Mountain Between Us”), Mohamed Diab (“Moon Knight”), Marwan Hamed (“Blue Elephant”), Ameer Fakher Eldin (“The Stranger”) (pictured), and producer Dora Bouchoucha (“Hedi”) (pictured), to name a few.
Other prominent behind-the-camera talents already on the MAD Crew Celebrity roster include:
– Egyptian showrunner/director/screenwriter Tahmer Mohsen (“Newton’s Cradle”).
– Producer Shahinaz El-Akkad — CEO of pioneering Egyptian production company Lagoonie Group. Films she has shepherded include “Feathers,” winner of the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes, “The Alleys,” and Hany Abu-Assad’s “Huda’s Saloon.”
– Cinematographer Ahmad Al Morsy, whose many credits comprise Egypt’s top grossing film “Kira & El Gin.”
– Egyptian composers Hesham Nazih who scored an Emmy nomination for scoring Marvel miniseries “Moon Knight,” and Khaled Al-Kammar, who scored the first Netflix original series in Egypt “Paranormal” as well as Saudi Arabia’s first Netflix production, the show “Whispers.” He is Egypt’s first and only recipient of a Hollywood Music in Media Award.
– Film and TV editor Ahmad Hafez, whose vast body of work includes “Kira & El Gen,” several episodes of Marvel’s “Moon Night,” series which reuniting him with Mohamed Diab after their collaborations on both “Clash” and “Amira.” He is the first editor from the Arab world to become a member of the society of American Cinema Editors (ACE).
– Costume designer Reem El Adl who has worked on a slew of Egyptian TV hits and recently on Nadine Khan’s film “Abu Saddam,” which is the only Egyptian pic selected for competition at the recent Cairo Film Festival.
MAD Crew Celebrity will be managed by Angie Skaik under the oversight of Kareem Samy, who is executive director of MAD Celebrity, one of the five operating divisions at MAD Solutions.
“MAD’s mission has always been to provide a promotional and marketing platform for the Arab world’s rich vein of filmmaking artists and artisans that deserve the same level of regional and international recognition as their peers in Europe and Hollywood,” said Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, co-founders of MAD Solutions in a statement. “With this new division we can now pay special attention to behind-the-camera talents who would otherwise have to rely on self-publicity and promotion,” they added.
Kareem Samy, executive director of MAD Celebrity, said: “Over the past decade at MAD, we have enabled numerous filmmakers to act as their own brand ambassadors. MAD Crew Celebrity will take this work even further, shining a spotlight on the often unsung players in the film and entertainment industries throughout the Arab world and beyond, whose expertise and ingenuity has helped create so many acknowledged masterpieces.”
Added Mad Crew Celebrity manager Angie Skaik: “The writers, directors, producers and all the department heads and crew members working behind the camera are the engine for everything we watch and enjoy on our screens. And it is our job and privilege to present these off-screen talents to the world.”
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