The 12th Malmö Arab Film Festival Industry Days (part of the 16th Malmö Arab Film Festival, which unspooled from 10-16 April) has announced its winners, comprising projects in development that have both international potential, and a Swedish or European co-producer on board.

Lily’s Mecca (Sudan/Germany/Sweden), the sophomore feature by Marwa Zein, co-produced by Magnus Gertten (Auto Images), received 100,000 SEK (approximately €9,250) from the Swedish Film Institute. The project revolves around a Sudanese family living in Mecca in the 1990s. It has previously won grants at the Göteborg Film Festival as well as from the Saudi Red Sea Fund and the Lebanese AFAC fund.

Al-Madeeneh 2008 (Yemen) by Yousef Assabahi, produced by Ala’a Amer (Semasser) and co-produced by Edyta Janczak Hiriart (Kometa Fims), received a $5,000 (€4,240) cash prize from the Red Sea Fund. Previously pitched at the industry events of the Amman International Film Festival, the El Gouna International Film Festival and the Cairo International Film Festival, the project is set in Yemen in 2008 and aims to portray daily life in the titular ancient city. More specifically, it will follow a maintenance worker who wants to emigrate abroad. Since this project was invited to the Malmö event as part of an in-kind award from the Malmö International Film Festival, it was exempt from the obligation to have a Swedish partner on board (Janczak Hiriart is a French-Polish producer).

The MAFF Industry Days also hosted pitches of short films. The winner was Tattoo (Sweden) by Sarah Alzeer, who is also producing it through her outfit, Saracrew, which received a cash award of 30,000 SEK (€2,770) from Film i Skåne.

Men Barra (Palestine/Egypt/UAE/Sweden) by Abeer Al Muhsin, produced by Mohammad Tellawi (Karma and Happy Tellawi Production), received script development and production support, including technical equipment valued at 30,000 SEK, from FilmCentrum Syd. Additionally, the short-film project Whispers from the Other Side (Egypt/Sweden) by Nadine Salin received sound mix and sound design support equivalent to $5,000, awarded to producer Mohamad Rashad and co-producer Fady Atallah (B-RETTA Film).

The jury consisted of producers Baho Bakhsh and Basel Mawlawi, filmmaker and academic Margo Haddad, and Cineuropa journalist Ola Salwa.

Batul Ardat, MAFF Industry Days director, told Cineuropa that this year, “the projects were selected from around 52 submissions, representing more than 20 countries”. She added: “The main goal behind establishing the MAFF Industry Days is to create co-productions between Sweden and the Arab world. In the Nordics, we don't see as many co-productions of that kind as we see in other parts of the world. I think we have achieved something with this. Each year, we have amazing projects coming along in partnership with Sweden.”

Movies that have previously been pitched at the MAFF Industry Days include the narrative feature Sink by Zain Duraie and the documentary feature Flana by Zahraa Ghandour, shown in this year’s programme.

So far, the MAFF Industry Days has awarded a total of 118 grants and prizes.

Here is the full list of winners:

100,000 SEK from the Swedish Film Institute
Lily’s Mecca - Marwa Zein (Sudan/Germany/Sweden)
Co-producer: Magnus Gertten (Auto Images)

$5,000 cash prize from the Red Sea Fund
Al-Madeeneh 2008 - Yousef Assabahi (Yemen)
Producer: Ala’a Amer (Semasser)
Co-producer: Edyta Janczak Hiriart (Kometa Fims)

30,000 SEK cash award from Film i Skåne
Tattoo - Sarah Alzeer (Sweden, short film)
Producer: Sarah Alzeer (Saracrew)

Script development and production support from FilmCentrum Syd
Men Barra - Abeer Al Muhsin (Palestine/Egypt/UAE/Sweden, short film)
Producer: Mohammad Tellawi (Karma and Happy Tellawi Production)

$5,000 in sound mix and sound design support
Whispers from the Other Side - Nadine Salin (Egypt/Sweden, short film)
Producer: Mohamad Rashad
Co-producer: Fady Atallah (B-RETTA Film)