mad solutions awards yemeni documentary  let’s play soldiers at final cut in venice 2025

During the closing ceremony of the 13th edition of the Final Cut in Venice — held from August 31st to September 2nd as part of the Venice Production Bridge at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival— MAD Solutions, the MENA region’s leading film distribution company, granted its annual award to the Yemeni project LET’S PLAY SOLDIERS (working title): A feature-length documentary currently in post-production by Mariam Al-Dhubhani.

The award encompasses marketing, publicity, and distribution in-kind services, with all rights managed by MAD World, the company’s global sales arm.

A joint production between Yemen, Qatar, Norway, and France, LET’S PLAY SOLDIERS follows 16-year-old Nasser, a former child soldier who returns to his village in southern Yemen to care for his family and protect his younger siblings from dropping out of school and following his path. The ongoing eight-year war has already devastated his father and older brother, leaving Nasser to shoulder the responsibility of shaping his younger siblings’ future.

Previously selected for Cannes’ Marché du Film and the IDFA Forum, the project is directed by Mariam Al-Dhubhani: A Russian Yemeni award-winning journalist, filmmaker, curator, and educator; two-time TEDx speaker; and one of the first directors to use virtual reality to spotlight stories from Yemen. It is produced by Mohammed Al-Jaberi, a Yemeni producer and cinematographer recognized for his work on award-winning short documentaries centered on Yemeni narratives.

Last year, MAD Solutions presented its award at Final Cut in Venice to the Lebanese horror-romance feature IN THIS DARKNESS I SEE YOU by Nadim Tabet, starring Ziad Jallad, Marilyne Naaman, Maya Dagher, and Moe Lattouf.

Previous recipients of the MAD Award at Venice also include Erige Sehiri’s UNDER THE FIG TREES, which world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the EcoProd Jury Award; Ismael Ferrouki’s MICA, which screened at Cinemania Francophone, El Gouna, and Angoulême Francophone film festivals; and Soudade Kaadan’s OBSCURE, which was showcased at the Copenhagen Documentary and Fribourg International Film Festivals.

The MAD Award is part of the company’s broader strategy to support Arab films through various stages of production — both regionally and internationally — and to champion their long-term visibility and success.

The Final Cut in Venice:

The Final Cut in Venice is a three-day program that is part of the Venice International Film Festival’s Venice Production Bridge in which six selected film projects from Africa and specific Arab countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, are presented to buyers, distributors, post-production companies, and film festival programmers for a chance to receive funding that would contribute to their completion and eventual release.

MAD Solutions:

Founded in 2010, MAD Solutions is the Arab World’s first independent entertainment studio. Comprised of five subsidiaries, MAD is home to the world’s leading distributor of Arab films, the world’s largest promotional agency and management company for Arab creative talent, and the Arab world’s first dedicated international film sales company, as well as a fully integrated marketing and creative consultancy.

Boasting a rights library of more than 500 feature films, documentaries, and shorts, MAD is prolific in the financing, production, packaging, marketing, and releasing of Arab entertainment content that spans the gamut from festival prize-winners to commercial blockbusters.

Headquartered in Cairo, the Arab World's capital of entertainment, MAD is also operational in the UAE, Lisbon, and New York, with representatives in Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon. Known for its innovative marketing strategies and industry-building initiatives, MAD has a history of breaking new ground for Arab films and filmmakers.