Arab Cinema Center (ACC) revealed the final nominees for the 6th edition of Critics Awards for Arab Films, which highlights the Arab films produced in 2021. The films are being assessed by a jury committee of 167 critics from 68 countries. The critics view the films on Festival Scope. The winners will be announced during a ceremony, held at the upcoming edition of Cannes Film Festival.
"As the Critics Award for Arab Films 2022 showed, it was a very good year for Egyptian films and co-productions, with strong entries from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries, all riding the wave of splashy festival premieres and mature themes.” said Deborah Young, Manager of the Critics Awards for Arab Films
" We are thrilled with the wide variety of arab productions this year. This is obvious in the themes of the films and the participating countries. Besides, we are delighted that there’s female representation in directing, writing and making documentaries. We thank the jury committee of the Critics Awards for Arab Films, which viewed all of last year’s arab films inorder to choose the best in each award category.” commented Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, co-founders of ACC.
The Final List of Nominees are:
Best Film:
Europa|Director: Haider Rashid |Iraq
Feathers|Director: Omar El Zohairy |Egypt
Memory Box|Director: Joana Hadjithomas - Khalil Joreige |Lebanon
Souad|Director: Ayten Amin |Egypt -Tunisia
The Alleys|Director: Bassel Ghandour |Jordan - Egypt - Saudi Arabia
Best Actor:
Adam Ali |Film: Europa |Iraq
Ali Suliman | Film: Amira|Palestine
Monzer Reyahnah | Film: The Alleys|Jordan
Samir Guesmi | Film: Life Suits Me Well|Morocco
Soufiane Guerrab | Film: A Brighter Tomorrow|Algeria
Best Actress:
Afef Ben Mahmoud|Film: Streams|Tunisia
Demyana Nassar|Film: Feathers|Egypt
Manal Issa |Film: The Sea Ahead |Lebanon
Maisa Abd Elhadi|Film: Huda’s Salon |Palestine
Saba Mubarak |Film: Amira |Jordan
Best Director:
Ayten Amin|Film: Souad |Egypt
Bassel Ghandour|Film: The Alleys|Jordan
Ely Dagher|Film: The Sea Ahead|Lebanon
Hany Abu-Assad|Film: Huda’s Salon|Palestine
Omar El Zohairy|Film: Feathers|Egypt
Best Screenplay:
Ayten Amin-Mahmoud Ezzat| Film: Souad|Egypt
Bassel Ghandour|Film: The Alleys|Jordan
Ely Dagher|Film: The Sea Ahead|Lebanon
Khalil Joreige - Joana Hadjithomas|Film: Memory Box |Lebanon
Omar El Zohairy - Ahmed Amer | Film: Feathers | Egypt
Best Documentary:
As I Want |Director: Samaher Alqadi | Egypt
A Thousand Fires|Director: Saeed Taji Farouky | Palestine
Little Palestine: Diary of A Siege | Director: Abdallah Al-Khatib | Palestine - Lebanon
Miguel’s War|Director: Eliane Raheb|Lebanon
Republic Of Silence | Diana El Jeiroudi |Syria
The 1st Critics’ Awards for Arab Films was held on the margins of the 70th Cannes Film Festival. The awards are given to the best Arab film productions every year in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Documentary Film, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Actress and Best Actor. For the first time in the history of Arab cinema, the jury committee brings together 167 of the most prominent Arab and international film critics from 68 countries from all over the world this year.
The final list of the nominees for the Critics Awards for Arab Films were selected according to the following criteria: the films must have been premiered at international film festivals outside of the Arab world during 2021, and at least one of the production companies must be Arab (regardless of the size of its contribution to the production of the film), in addition, the films must be feature-length films (fiction or documentary).
Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is a nonprofit organization registered in Amsterdam. The ACC is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema as it provides the filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with their counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes. The ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. The ACC's activities vary between film markets, stands, and pavilions, networking sessions and one-on-one meetings bringing together Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, as well as meetings with international organizations and festivals, and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets.
Furthermore, newsletter subscription is now available on the ACC's website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on the ACC's activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from the ACC's partners and their future projects.
The ACC also launched an English-language Arab Cinema Guide, available on its website, which is a comprehensive cinematic guide that provides a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers' access to international markets and help film industry representatives to easily identify Arab film productions.
