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Over his 10+ years of experience, Georges Schoucair has developed and produced critically acclaimed [and award-winning] independent movies and has actively contributed to the establishment of an attractive and globally acknowledged environment for film investments in Lebanon and to the development of the Lebanese cinema, one of the most promising cinemas being created in the Middle-East today.
As a producer, Georges was able to develop strong relationships with prominent Arab and international film professionals and has closely worked with award winning directors (such as Kaouther Ben Hania, Ivo Ferreira, Alain Gomis, Annemarie Jacir, Khalil Joreige, Joana Hadjithomas, Mohammad Malas, Lucretia Martel, Shirin Neshat, Asli Ozge, Rafi Pitts, Ghassan Salhab, Bill Plympton, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Vatche Boulghourjian) and internationally recognized actors (such as Catherine Deneuve, Pierre Richard, Nadine Labaki, Nada Abou Farhat, Diamand Bou Abboud). His films have been exhibited at international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale, Toronto, Venice, Locarno, Karlovy Vary…
In parallel to Abbout Productions, Georges founded MC Distribution, a distribution company which releases Arab and international films in the Middle-East, and has been since 2008 the active vice-president of Metropolis, a differentiated art house cinema venture in Beirut. His most recent endeavor is Schortcut Films, which objective is to identify and invest in high quality international independent films.
Myriam Sassine majored in audiovisual studies and received an M.A. in Cinema Research. In 2010, she joined Abbout Productions producing several features and documentaries such as Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl (Venice Film Festival Official Selection / TIFF 2021), All This Victory by Ahmad Ghossein (Venice Critic’s Week 2019), 1982 by Oualid Mouaness (TIFF 2019), Panoptic by Rana Eid (Locarno 2017) and Amal by Mohamed Siam (Idfa 2017). From 2016 to 2020, she was the COO of Schortcut Films dedicated to co-producing international films such as Félicité by Alain Gomis and Beauty and the Dogs by Kaouther Ben Hania. In 2016, she cofounded Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only genre film festival in the Middle East and acts as the festival’s executive director. Since 2021, she’s the artistic director of Beirut Cinema Platform, Beirut DC’s coproduction platform. Myriam teaches film producing at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) and ESA Business School. She’s also a producing mentor for several institutions such as Doha Film Institute, Produire au Sud Agadir, Full Circle Lab
Antoine Waked is an experienced professional in cinema mentorship and education. Since 2011, he has served as a development executive at Abbout Productions, a leading film production company in Lebanon. Antoine is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only festival of its kind in the Arab world, and the Maskoon Fantastic Lab, focusing on the development of Arab genre films. He also held the position of director of the cinema section at Alba University from 2021 to 2023 where he teaches writing and directing since 2005. Antoine’s activities include script consultations for international films, mentorship in screenwriting labs, and delivering lectures on Arab genre cinema. He co-directed the award- winning documentary “A Certain Nasser,” exploring the life of Lebanese pioneer filmmaker Georges Nasser.
Christian Eid is a film producer with Abbout Productions (Beirut).
In 2010, he started his production career and since worked as a production supervisor on more than 15 award winning feature films, which premiered in Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto.
His filmography includes “The Valley” by Ghassan Salhab, “Tramontane” by Vatche Boulghourjian, “1982” by Oualid Mouaness, “The Sea Ahead” by Ely Dagher, “Costa Brava, Lebanon” by Mounia Akl among others.
In 2020, he produced “We Are From There” by Wissam Tanios which premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival and won several awards including Best Arab Film and Best Documentary at Cairo International Film Festival. In 2021, he produced “Memory Box” by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige which got selected in the Official Competition of Berlinale and got sold to more than 40 territories.
Christian is a Berlinale Talents, Global Media Makers and Locarno Industry Academy alumnus.
Renée Awit majored in filmmaking and audiovisual art at L’Institut d’études scéniques, audiovisuelles et cinématographiques (IESAV), USJ-Beirut.
With several years of experience in the cinema industry, she has directed and edited multiple award-winning short films and served as General Coordinator for various film projects, workshops, and cinematic events.
Since 2014, she has been working in the production field with Abbout Productions, first as an Assistant Producer, and then as a Production Manager, contributing to several award-winning features.
Renée is also the Project Manager of Aflamuna.online since 2020 and the Operations Director of Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the first genre festival in the Arab world and the Maskoon Fantastic Lab.
She participated in Talents Beirut 2018 and has served as a jury member and selection committee member for various film festivals, including the European Film Festival (2022) and the Aswat Festival – Creation and Alternative Scientific Writings in the Arab world (2023).
Mike Malajalian majored in Graphic Design & Visual Communication from the Lebanese University Institute of Fine Arts, and holds a Masters in Cinema & Video Art from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy.
He worked as an Art Director in advertising agencies and as a freelance Graphic Designer. He has directed many short movies including La Femme aux Raisins (2011) which was awarded the Silver Aleph at the Beirut International Film Festival (2012) and Reprisal (2017), a short psychological horror film which was selected in international film festivals around the world. He also directed short documentaries, music videos and commercials, and has worked within the organizing teams of many film festivals in Lebanon.
Since June 2015, he joined the Abbout Productions team as Production Coordinator and Art Director.
Born in Lebanon in 1982, Badih Massaad studied film directing at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), graduating with high honors in 2005. His graduation short film, “Badkon shi…t?,” screened at prestigious international film festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and received the Special Jury Award at the European Film Festival in Beirut. Since 2004, Badih has been actively involved in the audiovisual industry, working as both a Director and 1st Assistant Director on numerous TV commercials, music videos, and short films. He also participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2006. In 2012, hestarted teaching directing and editing at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA). He also co-directed the feature documentary “A Certain Nasser” in 2017 which premiered at Lumière Festival in Lyon and won the Salah Abou Seif Award at Cairo International Film Festival. Also in 2017, Badih took on new roles, joining MC Distribution and Abbout Productions, working on Middle-Eastern film distribution. In 2021, he further expanded his activities by joining Beirut’s Metropolis Cinema’s team which specializes in programming arthouse films. Additionally, he joined the Arab programming team at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
