Silvana Santamaria: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German producer Silvana Santamaria has come on board as a lead producer on “The Witness,” the new Tehran-set project reuniting Jafar Panahi and Nader Saeivar that Arthood entertainment is selling in Cannes. Saeivar will direct “The Witness.” Saeivar wrote “3 Faces,” the Panahi-directed drama that premiered in 2018 in Cannes where it won the award for best screenplay. Panahi, who is one of Iran’s most prominent auteurs, was recently released from Tehran’s Evin prison after being incarcerated for “propaganda against the system.” He is expected to work very closely with Saeivar on “The Witness” shoot and be on set every day, as he did for Saeivar’s previous films “No End” and “Namo,” according to Santamaria. Panahi will also serve as editor on this previously announced film that is expected to start shooting soon.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentCairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit MAD Solutions has taken an equity ownership stake in New York’s revived arthouse distributor D Street Releasing.The partnership will extend the reach of MAD Solutions’ theatrical distribution operations, giving it an inroad into the U.S. arthouse sector where so far Arab cinema has been largely reliant on festival exposure.MAD Solutions, which is a top distributor of specialty Arab cinema across the West Asia region, now plans to release between five and seven standout titles from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arabic-speaking countries to North American audiences.D Street Releasing, which has been largely dormant in recent years, is a division of D Street Media Group, the New York-based production, distribution and music publishing company with affiliate operations in the U.S., Germany, Ecuador, Argentina and South Africa.