Beirut-based Abbout Productions, led by Georges Schoucair and Myriam Sassine, will be awarded the Raimondo Rezzonico Award, the Rocarno Film Festival’s Production Award, in the next 78.th The edition will be held from August 6th to 16th.
Schoucair and Sassine will also be releasing two films. Costa Brava, Lebanon Mounia akl and Memory Box At the festival, by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.
Schoucair took over as CEO of Abbout Productions in 2004, while Sassine joined in 2010 as lead producer. They have since existed an array of Arab and Lebanese feature films and have entered the international secondary market.
In recent years, Schoucair and Sassine have been Costa Brava, Lebanon (Venice Orizonti, 2021) Memory Box (Berlinale Competition, 2021) and by local filmmakers such as Ahmad Ghossein, Mohamed Malas, Ghassan Salhab, Oualid Mouannes, Cyril Aris, Ely Dagher, Rana Eid, and Myriam El Hajj. Lebanon’s diary It premiered in 2024 at the Berlin Panorama.
Schoucair also played a pivotal role in opening Beirut Metropolis Films, the major industry and programming hub of the MENA region, and has since resumed.
Sassine co-founded the Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only genre film festival in the Arab region, and is actively involved in film training initiatives and industry events. Since 2021, she has managed Aphramna Connection, a Lebanese co-production platform for Arab filmmakers.
They were awarded the Raimondo Resonico Award on the evening of August 7th and will be participating in public conversations at the festival the following day.
The Raimondo Rezzonico Award was created in 2002 to commemorate the festival’s president from 1981 to 1999. Recent winners include French producer Marianne Slot and US producers Jason Blum and Stacey Sher.
Giona A. Nassaro, artistic director of Locarno, said: “The abbreviations in film are marks of produced society, and continue to look to the future with stubborn confidence. Georges and Miriam were able to tell the story of the country, where they can imagine history, while imagining history. The talents in front and behind the camera allow Lebanon to fulfill its potential, providing a complex portrait of the country that goes far beyond the trivialities of war violence.
(TagstoTranslate) Awards (T) Europe (T) Festivals (T) Locarno (T) Switzerland
