Boasting a rights library of more than 500 feature films, documentaries, and shorts, MAD Distribution is prolific in the financing, production, packaging, marketing, and releasing of Arab films that span the gamut from festival prize-winners to commercial blockbusters. Since the beginning of 2021 alone, MAD has distributed more than 100 film titles, two-thirds of them feature-length, across the Arab-speaking world and in international markets. MAD remains the only Arab distribution company to be a member of Europa Distribution, the networking association for international film distributors.

MAD Distribution is the first company to have two Arab films competing for the Oscars in the same year when both “Theeb” (Jordan) and “Ave Maria” (Palestine) were nominated for Academy Awards in 2016. Most recently, MAD launched its world sales division with the first ever Sudanese film in Cannes history, “Goodbye Julia”, which won the Freedom Prize in Un Certain Regard, alongside the first two Jordanian films in Cannes history, “Inshallah A Boy” and “The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry”. MAD took the first Saudi film ever to be in Berlinale, Ahd Kamel’s short “Sanctity” in 2012; it also worked on the first Saudi feature ever shown at that festival, “Barakah Meets Barakah”, as well as the first Jordanian film in the Berlinale, “The Last Friday”. In other festival landmarks, “The Alleys” was the first Jordanian film ever to be screened in Piazza Grande at Locarno, while “Theeb” was the first Jordanian film ever to be in Venice. MAD Distribution is the first company to release Jordanian (“Theeb”, “Daughters of Abdulrahman” and “The Alleys” ) and Tunisian films (“Hedi”) across multiple Arab territories. MAD Culture developed the “first-timer” concept that distinguishes the Amman Film Festival in Jordan. MAD Content has subtitled more than 1,000 hours of Arabic feature films, shorts, documentaries, and TV Series, including 150 hours of Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH).

MAD is a visible presence at more than 100 film festivals, markets and industry events throughout the year, bringing global recognition to its Arab films and their creative talents. With a constant eye on seeding tomorrow’s filmmaking talents, MAD Distribution became the first Arab entity to provide distribution awards for Arab films starting at the Venice Film Festival ten years ago, as part of its Final Cut in Venice workshop. The company has continued presenting awards for Arab projects at key industry launchpads for works-in-progress around the world, including two awards for Arab projects at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors in 2015. Annual awards are given out by MAD at the Cairo Film Connection at the Cairo International Film Festival, the Beirut Cinema Platform, the Malmö Arab Film Festival, the Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon, the Amman Film Festival in Jordan, CineGouna Platform at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival and the Souk at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia.

For more information about MAD Solutions' subsidiaries, divisions, and initiatives, click the links below:

Alaa Karkouti

Co-Founder | Managing Partner | Film Analyst

Maher Diab

Co-Founder | Creative Director | Managing Partner

Colin Brown

Managing Partner and Director of International Operations

Moshira Farouk

Cultural and Theatrical Distribution Manager

Moshira Farouk is the Culture and Theatrical Distribution Manager of MAD Solutions. She has been part of the MAD family for ten years, spending five of which fully dedicated to film distribution. .....

Ahmed Mahmoud

Financial, Administrative Manager, and Theatrical Distribution Manager

Ahmed Mahmoud is the Financial Manager and Theatrical Distribution Manager in Egypt at MAD Solutions since 2013. Henceforth, .....

Alaa Karkouti

Co-Founder | Managing Partner | Film Analyst

Email: alaa.karkouti@mad-solutions.com

One of the most internationally recognised figures across the Arab film, media and entertainment sectors, Alaa Karkouti has been a tireless champion of Arab cinema and film culture across the world stage for nearly two decades.

As the co-founder and CEO of MAD Solutions, the Arab world’s most prolific distributor of Arabic film content, Karkouti has expanded the global audience for Arab storytellers by building business and creative relationships across the worldwide industry map. Several landmark co-productions between MENA and countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia have resulted from his energetic advocacy and networking initiatives.

Karkouti’s involvement with Arab entertainment extends beyond the packaging, production, distribution and marketing of feature films, series and shorts. MAD Solutions is also the Arab world’s pre-eminent talent management company, with a mission to nurture and burnish the careers of Arab industry professionals, actors and filmmakers both regionally and globally.

He is also one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) , the networking hub that serves as the gathering point for Arab professionals and their international peers at major events such as Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Toronto and Locarno. As part of its activities, ACC publishes Arab Cinema Magazine, an English-language quarterly that shines a spotlight on Arab film culture, talents and business. ACC also pioneered the Arab Film Critics’ Awards for Arab cinema - a concept that was also expanded to European cinema too through an annual award presented at the Cairo film festival.

A journalist and magazine publisher by background – one who compiled comprehensive archives on the economics of filmmaking – Karkouti is acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the workings of the Arab film industry, drawing on his years as a business analyst and film critic. His expertise has given him opportunities to serve on panels and juries at film festivals throughout the world.

Alaa Karkouti's participation in the film industry includes a year-round commitment to workshops and seminars at major film festivals, as well as networking sessions held from 2015 to 2020 by the European Film Commission as part of the Arab Cinema Center.

Before co-founding MAD Solutions in 2010 with Maher Diab, Karkouti worked in film distribution, production, and theatre management. He has also served as the publisher for several prominent publications including Good News Cinema and Vodafone Ten Magazine.

As a journalist, Karkouti had the opportunity to cover and interview major movie stars at various film festivals. He has written articles on the Arab film industry for a variety of prestigious publications, such as Forbes Middle East, Variety, and Screen International, and also published the first-ever list of the 50 most powerful people working in the film business across the Arab world.

Maher Diab

Co-Founder | Creative Director | Managing Partner

Email: maher.diab@mad-solutions.com

Maher Diab is the creative beating heart behind MAD Solutions, the company he co-founded and built into the Arab world’s leading distributor of Arabic film content. Combining his celebrated skills as a visual artist with a keen eye for storytelling talent, Diab has been instrumental in turning MAD Solutions into Arab cinema’s most expressive marketing platform in the global marketplace. He has given Arab films and filmmakers a self-confident, colourful identity that smashes through stereotypes and presents them in all their progressive shades and subtle sensibilities.

An acclaimed illustrator, photographer, sculptor and painter, Diab began his career as an art director in the advertising industry. He worked for several years at some of the world’s leading ad agencies – including BBDO, Y&R, and JWT – deploying everything from photo-montage and layout design to digital illustration on behalf of their demanding clientele.

With the creation of MAD Solutions, which he co-founded with Alaa Karkouti in 2010, Diab helped to usher in an exciting, bold new wave for Arab cinema while also elevating MENA’s marginalized entertainment industry to a level comparable to its worldwide counterparts. Central to this was the realization of Arab Cinema Center (ACC), which he conceived in 2015 as a worldwide promotional and networking platform for Arab cinema. Visible at every major film festival and market event on the industry calendar, ACC serves as the global hub for all those around the world with a vested interest in Arab stories and talents. So many landmark co-productions and international collaborations were born out of discussions initiated at the ACC.

Diab has served as a jury member at a number of key film festivals and events, including the BBC Arabic Festival's Feature Documentary Panel, the main competition of the Cape Town International Film Market and Festival, and the Latin Arab International Film Festival.

He recently showcased his artistry with the opening of his first solo exhibition, Beyond Sleep and Wakefulness, at Cairo’s prestigious Zamalek Art Gallery, which was attended by many well-known celebrities and Arab artists.

Colin Brown

Managing Partner and Director of International Operations

Email: colin-brown@mad-solutions.com

Based in New York City, Colin is part of the senior team of Slated as Editorial Director, the private marketplace for accredited investors to track independent film projects online. He also teaches "The Future of Film" class to graduate film and business students at New York University's Tisch School, affiliated with The Cinema Research Institute.

He is also a strategic advisor in Slated's international expansion plans. Colin was an award-winning Editor in Chief in Screen International, the leading publication business authority on the international film industry. He has also been Contributing Editor at CNBC Business. Brown launched the essential news service Screen Daily in 2000, and presided over the publication's push into film industry conferences targeted at global dealmakers and financiers.

As a Film Critic, Colin has been invited on numerous film festival juries including that of the Sundance Film Festival 2009. Colin remains a longstanding industry consultant for the Dubai International Film Festival.

Colin recently joined the board of New York University's Cinema Research Institute (cri.nyu.edu). They give out research fellowships to ideas that will transform the global film industry. He also facilitates "Salons"- a filmed roundtable discussion on burning film topics in partnership with the Tribeca Film Festival and Illy, the Italian coffee company. Colin's blog "Filmonomics" (info.slated.com/filmonomics/) is widely syndicated across film websites including Indiewire and Hope for Film. It has become the leading forum for discussion about film economics and future trends in the film industry.

In terms of his Arab world credentials, Colin is regularly asked by his former paper Screen International to write their feature analyses on the Arab Film Industry. The latest series appeared as part of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival coverage. Brown was asked by the Sundance Institute to join a panel discussion in New York on the future of independent film finance and has been interviewed extensively for radio shows including those for Monocle Radio and CIO Radio.