The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) unveiled the finalists of the 3th edition of Awards Critics. The winners will be announced on the sidelines of the 72nd edition of Cannes festival to be held from May 14 to 25, 2019.
Since the first edition which had been launched on the sidelines of the 70th Cannes Festival Editioneach year the prices are awarded to the best Arab cinematographic productions in the following categories: best feature film, best documentary, best director, best screenwriter, best actress and best actor. For the first time in the history of Arab cinema, the jury committee brings together this year 75 of the greatest criticisms of Arab and international cinema in 34 countries around the world (in 2017, there were 24 members of 15 different countries), among them Tunisians Ikbal Zalila, Mohamed Boughalleb, Lamia Guiga, Tarek Ben Chaabane and Narjes Torchani.
Competition films must meet the following criteria: feature films (fictions or documentaries) presented in 2018 in first, in international festivals outside the Arab world, and have at least one Arab co-producer (regardless of the size of its contribution to the production of the film).
Alaa Karkouti, film analyst and co-director of the Center for Arab Cinema said: “Each year, the number of cinematographic criticisms (Arabs or not Arab), members of the Awards Critics Jury, meet to view the best Arab cinematographic productions, which allows us to achieve our goal of promoting the content of the Arab film with criticisms of different nationalities and origins, especially that the majority of them do not have the chance to see all the Arab films selected in international festivals”.
Ahmed Shawky, manager of Critics Awards, said: “The six categories experienced strong competition during the first phase of the vote of this edition, and we had great difficulty in selecting the three finalists in each category. The strong competition which should take place during the last phase of the election proves that the Arab film industry experienced strong growth over the last year, which resulted in the multiplication of exceptional films. The Arab films selected in competition have also won numerous international prizes in many film festivals in 2018. »»
The finalists of this 3th edition are:
Best documentary:
Fathers and wires | Directed by Talal Derki | Syria
Erased, ___ ascent of the invisible | Directed by Ghassan Halwani | Lebanon
Chaos | Directed by Sara Fatahy | Lebanon – Syria
Best actress:
Maha Alemi | Sofia | Morocco
Maryhan Magdy | Toxic roses | Egypt
Sarah Layssac | Divine wind | Algeria
Best actor:
Mohamed Dhrif | Weldi | Tunisia
Ahmed Hafiane | Fatwa | Tunisia
Zain al Rafeea | Raw | Lebanon
Best scenario:
Meryem Benm’Barek | Sofia | Morocco
Abu Bakr Shawky | Yomeddine | Egypt
Rami Alayan | The Reports on Sarah and Saleem | Palestine
Best director:
Abu Bakr Shawky | Yomeddine | Egypt
Nadine Labaki | Raw | Lebanon
Hicham Lasri | Jahilya | Morocco
Best film:
Yomeddine | Director: Abu Bakr Shawky | Egypt
Raw | Director: Nadine Labaki | Lebanon
The Reports on Sarah and Saleem | Director: MUAYAD ALAYAN | Palestine
In 2017, the Tunisian actor Majd Mastoura won the prize for best actor for his role in the film Nhebek hedi Directed by Mohamed Ben Attia and in 2018, Tunisian actress Mariam Al Ferjani had won the prize for best actress for her role in the film Beauty and the pack, Directed by Kaouther Ben Henia.
The center of Arabic cinema which organizes this competition is an international platform for the promotion of Arab cinema which offers Arab filmmakers a way to communicate with their counterparts around the world through many events it organizes: participations in the most important film market events, introductory and networking sessions for Arab and foreign filmmakers, connections with representatives of specialized institutions, welcome evenings, meetings with international organizations and festivals and the publication of Arab Cinema Magazine intended for major international festivals and markets.
Neila Driss
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