Lagoonie Film Production has joined forces with the Cairo Industry Days (November 21-26) for the second year in a row to sponsor three workshops held during the 41st Cairo International Film Festival. Lagoonie Film Production will sponsor the Screen Buzz TV Script Development Workshop, EAVE on DEMAND Script Development Workshop and Film Independent’s Creative Production Workshop.

Screen Buzz will present a 4-day TV Script Development Workshop that will run from November 21-24. Screen Buzz is an innovative series of creative workshops bringing top Hollywood writers, directors and producers to the Arab world to support local storytellers in the creation of original, purpose driven content for global audiences. The workshops provide access to leading Hollywood talent to help develop the most promising stories in the region. The Screen Buzz workshops are powered by America Abroad Media (AAM), a non-profit organization that champions global storytelling through the power of entertainment.

The Screen Buzz workshop will be led by Robin Gurney, Senior Vice President of Original Programming at Showtime Networks, and screenwriter and producer Mark Goffman (The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) and The West Wing (NBC)), along with Creative Producer/Executive/Consultant Karen Tenkhoff (The Motorcycle Diaries and The Horse Whisperer), who recently joined the workshop’s mentors.

Running from November 21-24, EAVE on DEMAND will offer a Script Development Workshop for selected teams of writers and producers with feature-length film projects from Egypt and the Arab world. The workshop will bring together international experts to ensure the delivery of information and content in a relevant and tailored manner to meet the specific needs of each project.

The EAVE on DEMAND workshop will be led by producers Diana Elbaum and Gabor Greiner, Head of Acquisitions at Films Boutique, along with script consultant Clare Downs.

Film Independent will offer its Creative Production Workshop from November 21-23 for the producers selected to participate in the Cairo Film Connection. The workshop will provide Egyptian and Arab producers with an overview of U.S. independent film financing strategies to explore how these practices can be applied in the Egyptian and Arab market. Moreover, the workshop will offer its participants the opportunity to pitch and discuss their projects and receive customized feedback from the workshop’s mentors.

Film Independent Workshop will be led by Eric d'Arbeloff, President and Co-Founder of Roadside Attractions, Producer Heather Rae, and Kelly Thomas, independent producer and co-founder of Extraordinary Renditions.

Lagoonie Film Production is an Egyptian Film production company established by Producer Shahinaz Elakkad in 2017. The company aims to develop the film and TV industry in Egypt and the Arab world through making international films and TV series that address new non-mainstream topics to put the Arab film and TV industry on the international map.

In addition to sponsoring the workshops held within the Cairo Industry Days for the second year in a row, Lagoonie Film Production has been involved in many activities that aim to support the Arab film industry. During the CineGouna SpringBoard of the El Gouna Film Festival, Lagoonie presented a monetary prize of $10,000 to the film project Severed Head by director Lotfi Achour. The company was also one of the sponsors of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) stand, the first-ever Arab stand at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Lagoonie Film Production also presented a monetary award at the 2018 Final Cut in Venice workshop of the Venice International Film Festival. The company previously presented a monetary prize of 5,000 euros to the feature film project Certified Mail by director Hisham Saqr that participated in the Final Cut in Venice workshop at the Venice International Film Festival.

Lagoonie’s latest film productions include Barra El Manhag, starring Maged El Kedwany, and co-written by Khaled Diab and the film’s director Amr Salama, and Ra's El Sana (New Year's Eve), co-produced with Film Clinic.

The company also co-produced the short film, Fork and Knife, which competed in the El Gouna Film Festival, and Ana Shahira.. Ana El Kha'en TV series by writer Noor Abdulmajeed.