Three top MAD films of the year — THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB, AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY, and A PROMISED SKY — won an Audience Award, a Golden Palm Grand Jury Award, and Best Screenplay, respectively, at Spain’s acclaimed Mostra de Valencia Film Festival, held from October 23rd to November 2nd.
 
Oscar-nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania’s historic film THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB — which received a record-breaking 20-minute standing ovation at its Venice premiere, and has been officially submitted for the 98th Academy Awards — is a docudrama that tells the shocking true story of a girl from Gaza who was murdered by Israeli forces. The film uses real voice recordings from the victim and Red Crescent correspondents who attempted to save her life.
 
Executive produced by Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Alfonso Cuarón, the Tunisian-French co-production has already garnered significant acclaim in a short span of time, winning a Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the UNICEF Award, an Edipo Re Award, an Arca Cinema Giovani Award, as well as the CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Award at its Venice Film Festival premiere alone, to only name a few. It stars Palestinian actors Amer Hlehel, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees, and Saja Kilani.
 
AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY, which notably premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, follows a 26-year-old Sudanese caregiver named Aisha who lives in the heart of Cairo, where she witnesses tensions between migrants and other groups. Unwittingly, she becomes involved with an Egyptian gang that blackmails her into stealing her patients’ keys in order to rob them.
 
The film received acclaim worldwide; screening at the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa; the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia, where it won a FIPRESCI Award; the Festival Villa del Cine in Colombia; both the Festival De Filmes Incríveis São Paulo, where it won the top prize; as well as the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival in Brazil, and most recently Filmfest Hamburg in Germany.
 
Produced through Sawsan Yusuf’s Bonanza Films, the film is a co-production involving Dora Bouchoucha and Lina Chaaban of Tunisia’s Nomadis Images, Sherif Fathy of Shift Studios, Ahmed Amer of A.A. Films, Faisal Baltayour from Cinewaves, Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab of MAD Solutions — the subsidiary of which, MAD World, is handling the film’s world sales — May Odeh and Zorana Musikic of Mayana Films, Laura Nikolov of Coorigins, Abellelah Al Ahmary of Arabia Pictures, as well as executive producer Amjad Abu Alala.
 
PROMISED SKY by Erige Sehiri follows the story of Marie, an Ivorian pastor and former journalist living in Tunis. Her home becomes a refuge for Naney, a young mother seeking a better future, and Jolie, a strong-willed student carrying her family’s hopes. The arrival of a little orphan girl challenges their sense of solidarity in a tense social climate, revealing both their fragility and strength.
 
Premiering in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes, where it was nominated for the top award, the film stars Aïssa Maïga, Laetitia Ky, Deborah Naney, and Tunisian actor Mohamed Grayaa. It is directed and co-produced by Erige Sehiri, produced by Didar Domehri, lensed by Frida Marzouk, who has worked with Sehiri before on UNDER THE FIG TREES and was involved in all the JOHN WICK movies.
 
It recently won three awards at the Festival du film francophone d'Angoulême and has screened at the BFI, AFI, and Karlovy Vary, to name a few.