Egyptian producer and CEO of Lagoonie Group and its subsidiary Lagoonie Film Production — a pioneer production house in Egypt and MENA — Shahinaz El Akkad made an appearance in the latest edition of the Cannes Film Festival, speaking at a panel discussion organized by The Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC) with the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) and Cannes’ Marché du Film.
The panel — titled ‘Jordan: A Case Study in Sustainable Growth’ — took place on Monday, May 20th at La Plage Des Palmes and brought together many of the leading lights of the Jordanian film industry who have turned their country into a global model for how to build a local storytelling infrastructure for long-term sustained success and secure a future as a sustainable storytelling hub.
El Akkad’s panel mates included the RFC’s Managing Director Mohannad Al-Bakri, Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak, Jordanian producer Rula Nasser, Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour, and Danish producer Jacob Jarek, and was moderated by Variety’s Italy and Middle East correspondent Nick Vivarelli.
In other news, Shahinaz’s Lagoonie-produced film INSHALLAH A BOY by Amjad Al-Rasheed also competed at the ACC’s Critics’ Awards for Arab Films — an awards ceremony held on the sidelines of Cannes celebrating the best of Arab cinema over the past year — where it was in the running for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Actress, and Best Cinematography, the last two of which it took home.
INSHALLAH A BOY made history as the first Jordanian feature to participate in Cannes’ Critics’ Week section, where it won both a Rail d’Or and the Gan Foundation Award, the film was selected to represent Jordan in the race for the 2024 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and has since enjoyed a successful festival tour, with 30 festivals and 14 awards under its belt so far.
As for her most recent work, El Akkad worked on the production for Amir Ramses’s A NOSE AND THREE EYES — a modern adaptation of Ihsan Abdel-Quddous’s novel that world premiered at the last edition of the Red Sea International Festival.
Shahinaz also worked on Hani Khalifa’s FLIGHT 404, which was an absolute commercial success, performing admirably in the Egyptian box office and topping Saudi Arabia’s ticket sales charts for two weeks, owing to its stellar cast — led by the exceptional Mona Zaki — crew, and provocative but ultimately human subject matter.
El Akkad’s name is also attached to productions like Cannes Critcs’ Week Grand Prize winner FEATHERS, Venice Interfilm Award laureate AMIRA, and winner of Cairo’s Youssef Cherif Rizkallah Audience Award DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN, which she co-produced with accomplished actress Saba Mubarak — another Arab feminist icon in her own right and Shahinaz’s panel-mate.
Lagoonie has also produced the Palestinian film HUDA’S SALON by Hany Abu Assad, which won a Special Jury Mention at the Beirut International Women Film Festival; the Jordanian film THE ALLEYS by Bassel Ghandour, which won the Grand Prix du Jury at the Festival du Premier Film d’Annonay; and the Palestinian feature ALAM by Firas Khoury, which featured at the 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival and the 44th Cairo International Film Festival, where it won three awards — the Golden Pyramid for Best Film, Best Actor, and the Youssef Cherif Rizkallah’s Audience Award.
