Meryem Benm’Barek’s BEHIND THE PALM TREES wins MAD Solutions’ distribution award at RSIFF

Meryem Benm’Barek’s in-development drama BEHIND THE PALM TREES took home MAD Solutions’ distribution award at the 2nd edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival, worth $50,000. The award is granted to projects in development, production, or post-production.

Alongside the MAD Solutions distribution award, BEHIND THE PALM TREES also garnered the Oticons Music Consulting Award worth $2000 USD.

Written and directed by Meryem Benm’Barek, BEHIND THE PALM TREES — which is set in Marrakech — follows Mehdi, who leads an exemplary life with his family and Selma, his new girlfriend. Things are going smoothly for the young couple until Mehdi meets Marie — a young French woman caught up in the social life of the expatriate community.

BEHIND THE PALM TREES is a multinational production that is co-produced by Jean Bréhat at Les Films du Veyrier and Emma Binet at Furyo in France, Souad Lamriki at Agora Films in Morocco, and Olivier Dubois at Novak Prod in Belgium.

“We are very proud of our collaboration with MAD Solutions, since this type of support is extremely valuable for Arab filmmakers,” stated Benm’Barek, with producer Jean Bréhat echoing her sentiment, “It’s a great pleasure to collaborate with MAD Solutions on Meryem’s upcoming project, and their unremitting commitment to uplifting bold voices in Arab cinema has us eager to see where this film’s journey will take us.”

Co-founders of MAD Solutions Maher Diab and Alaa Karkouti commented on their excitement for working with Benm’Barek, “We are thrilled about our upcoming collaboration with Meryem. Following the success of her debut feature SOFIA, we firmly believe that BEHIND THE PALM TREES will mark the establishment of one of North Africa and the Arab world’s most daring and boundary-pushing directors.”

Born in Morocco and raised between Morocco, France, and Belgium, Benm’Barek has directed several titles that have toured international festivals, with her feature debut SOFIA having won the Un Certain Regard - Screenplay Prize at Cannes alongside Golden Camera and Un Certain Regard Award nominations.

SOFIA — which was screened as part of the 2018 Marrakech Film Festival’s Panorama Section — follows a 20-year-old middle-class girl who is forced to marry the working-class father of her newborn baby, who she hardly knows, to avoid going to jail.

Moreover, Benm’Barek’s portfolio includes several internationally acclaimed short films, including the 2015 Oscar-eligible short JENNAH. 

Eric Lagesse, CEO of Pyramide Films, spoke to his great joy at the new developments, “Pyramide is proud to take care of the international sales and the French distribution of the second film by Meryem Benm’Barek, after the great SOFIA. We have a long-term business relationship with the producer Jean Bréhat and it is a joy to work with him again. We trust MAD Solutions is going to do a great job in the MENA region on BEHIND THE PALM TREES and once again, we are very happy to share such enthusiasm on this project.”

BEHIND THE PALM TREES was also pitched this year at the Atlas Workshops — the industry sidebar running alongside the Marrakech Film Festival.

Their award for BEHIND THE PALM TREES at the 2nd Red Sea Souk follows two awards presented by MAD Solutions this past month at Cairo Film Connection — a sidebar of the Cairo International Film Festival — to two highly anticipated Sudanese projects-in-development, Suzannah Mirghani’s COTTON QUEEN and El-Tayeb Mahdi’s LAMP IN THE DARK.