On May 17, on the sidelines of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) organized the ninth Critics Awards for Arab Films on the Palmes beach. Practically all the Arab cinema professionals present in Cannes were there, among them the great star of the Egyptian cinema and president of the Cairo Film Festival of Cairo Hussein Fahmy, our national pride Dhafer L’Abidine, the Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi, the Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mohamed Hefzy…
The record includes this year two Tunisian winners :: Adam Bessadesignated Best actor for its role in Ghost TrailAnd Amine Bouhafaawarded for Best original music In Aïcha by Mehdi Barsaoui.
Adam Bessa receives this award for the second time, after being awarded in 2023 for his role in the Tunisian film Harka, already praised that year in the Un Certain Regard section. As for Amine Bouhafa, he won the best music prize for the fourth time awarded by the Awards Critics.
The ceremony was opened through the Honorary Prize ceremony for a critical career in Ninos Mikelides (Cyprus) and Erfan Rashid (Iraq).
The list was established by 281 international cinema reviewsgathered by the Arab Cinema Center, in partnership with the Festival Scope platform. The prices distinguish Arab films released during the past year, in ten categories.
Palestinian cinema is very present this year, with four distinctions: the very beautiful Thank You For Banking With Us! de Laila Abbas receives the prizes for the best film and the best production, No Other Land is designated best documentary – a film that also won the Oscar 2025 for the best documentary – and the amazing and magnificent Upshot by Maha Haj, projected at the opening of Carthage 2024 cinematographic days, wins the prize for the best short film.
Complete list of 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films:
- Best fictional feature film :: Thank You For Banking With Us! – Laila Abbas (Palestine)
- Best scenario :: Everybody LOVES TOUDA – Nabil Ayouch & Maryam Touzani (Morocco)
- Best achievement : Laila Abbas – Thank You For Banking With Us! (Palestine)
- Best actress : Nisrin Erradi – Everybody LOVES TOUDA (Morocco)
- Best actor : Adam Bessa – Ghost Trail (France/Tunisia)
- Best original music : Amine Bouhafa – Aïcha (France/Tunisia)
- Best editing :: Xoftex – Noaz Deshe & Felipe Guerrero (Romania/Colombia)
- Best photograph : Mostafa el Kashef – The village Next to Paradise (Egypt)
- Best documentary :: No Other Land – Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor (Palestine)
- Best short film :: Upshot – Maha haj (Palestine)
- Honorary Prize for the whole critical career : Ninos Mikelides (Cyprus), Erfan Rashid (Iraq)
With this ninth edition, the Awards for Arab Films Critics are an important annual meeting in the recognition of talents in the Arab world, on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival. Besides, an appointment was made for the first Saturday of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival!
Neïla Driss
