The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) — in collaboration with MAD Solutions, the International Emerging Film Talent Association, and NEFT Emerging Film Talent International Competition — held its annual ninth Critics Awards for Arab Films on May 17th on the sidelines of the prestigious 78th Cannes Film Festival at Plages des Palmed.
This comes a day after the ACC also handed its sixth Arab Cinema Personality of the Year Award to CEO of the Doha Film Institute Fatma Al-Remaihi, and this year’s Lifetime Critic Achievement Awards to Ninos Mikelides and Erfan Rashid.
Organized by the ACC, the Critics Awards for Arab Films continue to highlight the best achievements in Arab filmmaking over the past year, with this year’s winners selected by a panel of 281 recognized film critics from around the world, who had the opportunity to view the films through the ACC's partner Festival Scope.
This year’s winners are:
Best Feature Film
THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! | Laila Abbas | Palestine
Best Screenplay
EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA | Nabil Ayouch & Maryam Touzani | Morocco
Best Director
Laila Abbas | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! | Palestinian
Best Actress
Nisrin Erradi | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA | Moroccan
Best Actor
Adam Bessa | GHOST TRAIL | French Tunisian
Best Music
Amin Bouhafa | AÏCHA | French Tunisian
Best Editing
XOFTEX | Noaz Deshe & Felipe Guerrero | Romanian - Columbian
Best Cinematography
Mostafa El Kashef | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE | Egyptian
Best Documentary
NO OTHER LAND | Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor | Palestine
Best Short Film
UPSHOT | Maha Haj | Palestine
Lifetime Critic Achievement Award
Ninos Mikelides | Cypriot
Erfan Rashid | Iraqi
The first Critics Awards for Arab Films was held on the margins of the 70th Cannes Film Festival and is an annual event held in partnership with Festival Scope that honors the best Arab productions of the previous year with awards in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Best Short, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Music.
With the ninth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films, the ACC reaffirms its mission to celebrate and empower Arab filmmakers, ensuring their stories resonate on an international scale. As the center enters its next decade, it continues to be a driving force behind the ever-evolving and dynamic Arab film industry.
About the Arab Cinema Center
The ACC was established by MAD Solutions in 2015 as an international promotional and networking platform for Arab cinema. Registered as a non-profit organization in Berlin, the ACC provides its partner companies with a visible presence at all major film festivals and markets, connecting them with industry professionals, organizing events, and publishing special editions of the Arab Cinema Magazine.
