Antoine Khalife, former Head of Festivals and Films at Unifrance, is putting together a slate of new Arab films, he tells Geoffrey Macnab
Khalife has just joined Cairo-based broadcasting powerhouse ART as Special Advisor to its Arab Media Distribution arm. His appointment comes as the broadcaster seeks to ramp up its film activities. “They want to change their strategy a little bit. They want to invest in many Arab films that can have international commercial potential,” Khalife comments.
ART co-financed Nadine Labaki’s hit Caramel. Now, Khalife is working with Labaki on her new project. Labaki is close to finishing the script for the untitled new work, which will again shoot in Lebanon. ART will be partnering with French producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint of Les Films Des Tournelles. ART is set to put up more than half of the budget.
Another project ART is set to board is UpSide Down, a $1 million drama set during the 2006 war in Lebanon from director Ahmed Ghossein. This is scheduled to shoot in the late summer. Meanwhile, ART is also in talks to support Smile, You’re in Jeddah, the $1.6 million debut feature by Saudi Arabian director, producer and actress Ahd Kamel. This is a comedy about a Saudi girl living in New York, trying to marry an American man in the face of family opposition. The aim is for ART to work together with international producers who will oversee the marketing of the films outside the Arab world. Khalife will be using his exemplary contacts in the French industry while also striking alliances with producers elsewhere across Europe.
ART invests in production in return for distribution rights across the Middle East. Khalife is based in Paris. He also has an office in Beirut and works closely with his colleagues in Cairo. Thanks to his many years with Unifrance, Khalife is a familiar face in Rotterdam. He started working at the French promotional agency in 1991 and spent two decades there. He accompanied many big name French auteurs to the festival, among them Catherine Breillat when she was the subject of a major retrospective and Benoît Jacquot.
He is happy to be back at the Festival this year, albeit in a new guise. “I have so many friends here and so I feel at home,” he reflects. “I am very proud to be in Rotterdam. This is my first mission – my first big festival in my new job.”