São Paulo – Streaming service Netflix will support the work of five Arab women filmmakers, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) announced. The one-time grant will be given through Netflix’s Fund for Creativity Equity to bring their fiction and non-fiction projects to life. Pictured above, Diala Kachmar, one of the filmmakers shortlisted.
Five women were selected to receive a grant for their individual projects. The five women filmmakers come from Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco. AFAC already has two grants aiming to support filmmakers in cinema and documentary making.
Among the five filmmakers shortlisted are Asmae El Moudir from Morocco, with the documentary The Mother of All Lies; and, on the fiction side, Diala Kachmar from Lebanon, with From the Other Shore; Jana Wehbe from Lebanon, with The Day Vladimir Died; Tania Khoury from Lebanon. With Manity; and Sarra Abidi from Tunisia, with My Name Is Clara.
“We are committed to telling stories about and by women across our slate in the Arab world. The Arab world has a long-standing history of women in entertainment, and we’ve had incredible successes and firsts from the region that we’re all very proud of. But in order to give more people a chance to see their lives reflected on screen, we need more women behind and in front of the camera,” Nuha Eltayeb, director of content acquisitions for Turkey, Middle East, and North Africa at Netflix, was quoted as saying in a statement.
The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity was launched in early 2021 to establish more opportunities for people from underrepresented communities, and close skill gaps with training programs where they are needed. The Netflix Fund in the Arab world is valued at USD 250,000.
“This second collaboration with Neftlix, this time to support women in the field of cinema, complements perfectly AFAC’s mission to promote diversity of voices and narratives,” stated Rima Mismar, AFAC’s executive director.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
