Through a virtual ceremony through Zoom platform, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) revealed the winners of the fourth edition of its Critics Awards for Arab Films during the Virtual Marché du Film. The award is submitted based on the voting of a jury of 141 members from across 57 countries. The critics have viewed Arab feature and documentary films produced in 2019 on Festival Scope.
To watch the award ceremony check the following link: https://youtu.be/qz1m0KElw5I
The list of award winners and where to watch them:
Best Documentary:
Talking About Trees (BFI Player and Amazon) | Directed by Suhaib Gasmelbari | Sudan
Best Film:
It Must Be Heaven (OSN)| Director: Elia Suleiman | Palestine
Best Actress:
Hend Sabry (Netflix)| Noura's Dream | Tunisia
Best Actor:
Sami Bouajila | A Son | Tunisia
Best Screenplay:
Amjad Abu Alala, Yousef Ibrahim | You Will Die At Twenty (Netflix)| Sudan
Best Director:
Elia Suleiman | It Must Be Heaven (OSN)| Palestine
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 141 of the most prominent Arab and international film critics from 57 countries from all over the world this year. Fruthermore, the Arab Cinema Center announced that American film critic Deborah Young is the newly assigned Manager of the Critics' Awards for Arab Films.
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 2019, 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 providing 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 comprises a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside of the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers' access to international markets and help film industry representatives to easily identify Arab film productions.
