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Cairo, Egypt | February- 16 February 2018:
Getting ready to announce the winners of the 2nd Annual Critics
Awards during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, 62 film critics from all
over the world are currently viewing Arab feature and documentary films
produced in 2017. The films are being viewed on the digital
platform Festival Scope, a partner of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), the
organizer of the annual Critics Awards.
Film Analyst Alaa Karkouti, Co-founder of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC)
and CEO and Co-founder of MAD Solutions, talks about this year’s
edition, saying, "The 2nd Critics Awards witnesses a new record for the
Arab film industry, as 62 critics from 28 countries from all over the
world came together to view the best Arab film productions in 2017. The
films are being viewed from an international critical perspective, which
matches our goal of promoting Arab films and establishing an Arab and
international critical ground for these films."
Film Critic Ahmed Shawky, Manager of the Critics Awards, says, “The
expansion of the 2nd Critics Awards is a proof of the seriousness of the
initiative and its sincere endeavors to express the opinions of the
largest number of film critics interested in the Arab film industry and
its latest trends. It will also help Arab cinema reach top writers,
intellectuals and opinion leaders from countries where Arab films rarely
screened.”
The 1st Annual Critics Awards was held within 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 Director, Best
Writer, Best Actress and Best Actor, in addition to the new category,
the Best Documentary Film. For the first time in the Arab cinema
history, the jury committee brings together 62 of the most prominent
Arab and international critics from 28 countries from all over the world
this year. Egyptian film critic Ahmed Shawky serves as Manager of
the Critics Awards.
The list of the qualified contenders for the Critics Awards are selected
according to the following criteria: the films must have been premiered
at international film festivals outside of the Arab world during 2017,
and at least one of the production companies must be Arab (regardless of
the size of its contribution in the production of the film), in addition
to that the films must be feature-length films (fiction or documentary).
The new issue of the Arab Cinema Magazine, published by the Arab Cinema
Center(ACC), is going to feature an article on the 2nd Annual Critics
Awards covering information about the film critics on board.
The 1st Annual Critics Awards jury committee included Egyptian film
critic Samir Faridand Palestinian film critic Bashar Ibrahim, who passed
away in early 2017 after they have contributed to the selection of films
and filmmakers nominated for this year’s awards.
List of critics appointed for nominating and selecting the winners of
the 1st Critics’ Awards (in alphabetical order):
Abdul Sattar Naji | Kuwait, Ahmed Shawky | Egypt, Deborah Young |
USA, Dragan Rubesa | Croatia, Erfan Rashid | Iraq/ Italy, Fionnuala
Halligan |UK, Hamadi Geroum| Morocco, Hauvick Habéchian | Lebanon, Houda
Ibrahim | Lebanon/ France , Husam Sam Asi | Palestine/ UK, Ibrahim Al
Ariss | Lebanon, Jay Weissberg | USA Kais Kassem | Iraq/ Sweden, Khalil
Demmon | Morocco, Mohammed Bougalleb | Tunisia,Mohammed Rouda |
Lebanon, Nabil Hadji | Algeria, Nadim Jarjoura | Lebanon, Ola
Al-Sheikh | Palestine/ UAE, Olivier Barlet | France, Ossama Abdel
Fattah | Egypt,Sydney Levine | USA, Tarek El-Shenawy | Egypt, Ziad
Khuzai | Iraq/ UK.
List of critics appointed for nominating and selecting the winners this
year (in alphabetical order):
Abdelkarim Ouakrim | Morocco, Abdelkarim Qadri | Algeria, Ali Wajeeh |
Syria, Alin TAŞÇIYAN | Turkey, Amber Wilkinson | UK, Andrew Mohsen |
Egypt, Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson | Iceland/ Czech Republic, Carmen Gray | New
Zealand, Chris Newbould | UK, Emad El Nouwairy | Kuwait, Gautaman
Bhaskaran | India, Giona A. Nazzaro | Switzerland, Harri Römpötti |
Finland, Hassan Haddad | Bahrain, Hassouna Mansouri| Tunisia, Iqbal
Zalila | Tunisia, Jim Quilty | Canada/Beirut, Kadhum Saloom |
Iraq,Kaleem Aftab | UK, Khaled Mahmoud | Egypt, Khalid Ali | Sudan/
UK, Kiva Reardon | Canada, Magdy Eltayeb | Egypt, Mahmoud Mahdi |
Egypt, Massimo Lechi | Italy,Mohamed Atef | Egypt, Mohamed Benaziz |
Morocco, Mohammed Chouika | Morocco, Mohamed Hashem Abdelsalam |
Egypt, Najeh Hassan | Jordan, Ola Shafey| Egypt, Pamela Biénzobas |
Chile France, Ramy Abdel Razek | Egypt, Rasha Hosny | Egypt, Ronnit
Hasson | Sweden, Safaa Abusadeer | Iraq/ UK, Tarek Ben Chaabane |
Tunisia, Youssef Cherif Rizkallah | Egypt.
Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (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 Center's
activities vary between film market main wings, introduction and
networking sessions for 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 theACC'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 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.
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