Mad World Takes Worldwide Sales on Egyptian Drama 'Al Baraneya' Ahead of Venice Premiere
Mad World, the film sales arm of Cairo-based Mad Solutions, has acquired worldwide sales rights to Al Baraneya, an Egyptian drama set to premiere in the Giornate degli Autori section of the Venice Film Festival. The pick-up gives the company a title heading into one of the autumn season's most closely watched festival marketplaces, where distributors from around the world come to buy finished films for their territories. (Deadline)
Al Baraneya is the debut feature of Dutch-Egyptian filmmaker Ashgan El-Hamus, who previously directed a series of short films including Birdland. The 84-minute film follows Amal, a pregnant young woman living with her extended family in the Egyptian village of Al Baraneya. It screens in Arabic with Italian and English subtitles, and has been selected for the Eventi Speciali — Special Events — strand of Giornate degli Autori, an independent section that runs parallel to the Venice competition. (Deadline; La Biennale di Venezia)
El-Hamus cast her own Egyptian relatives alongside actress Reem Amer, bringing an unusual layer of authenticity to the village-set story. The film is a Dutch-Egyptian-Belgian-Saudi co-production, produced by Frank Hoeve of Amsterdam-based Baldr Film, Kesmat Elsayed of Berlin-based Seera Films, and Eurydice Gysel of Brussels-based Czar Film — three companies spanning as many European production hubs. (Deadline)
For Mad World, the acquisition deepens a relationship with Seera Films and Elsayed. The two previously collaborated on Mohamed Rashad's The Settlement, which played at the Berlinale in 2025. Mad Solutions was co-founded by Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, and has built a catalogue focused on Arab cinema for international buyers. (Deadline)
The Venice Film Festival, now in its 83rd edition, runs through early September. For a first-time feature director, a Giornate degli Autori slot puts the film in front of critics, programmers and acquisitions executives in the same week — the moment from which a small drama's path to international screens often begins.
