Arab Cinema Center Reveals Jury Members of the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films
The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has revealed that 42 film critics from 13 Arab countries have joined the jury for the Arab Critics' Awards for European Films, a new section of its Critics' Awards for Arab Films launched in partnership with EFP (European Film Promotion). The Arab Critics' Awards for European Films will select the best European film out of the entries submitted by the national film promotion institutes from throughout Europe. The award ceremony will be hosted at this year's edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), to be held in November.
Sonja Heinen, EFP's Managing Director says: "We are absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to show a fine selection of films representing the great diversity of European cinema to such a distinguished jury of Arabian film critics. We are very grateful that the Arab Cinema Center has opened their established Critics' Awards to include European films, and we are keen to see how the films will be received."
Maher Diab and Alaa Karkouti, founders of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), comment: "The Arab Cinema Center appreciates the trust that Arab critics put in the Arab Critics' Awards for European Films and their awareness of its value and role in the sharing of knowledge and cultural exchange within the cinema world. We will start this initiative with 42 film critics from 13 Arab countries. These numbers indicate abundance and diversity as the main characteristics of the future of this initiative."
Producer and screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy, President of the Cairo International Film Festival, says: "I'm thrilled to witness the expansion of the Critics' Awards to include European films in addition to Arab films. I believe that the Cairo International Film Festival is the perfect platform for hosting such an event."
List of film critics participating in the Arab Critics' Awards for European Films :
Abdelkarim Ouakrim (Morocco), Abdelkrim Kadri (Algeria), Abdul Sattar Naji (Kuwait), Ahmed Shawky (Egypt), Ali Wajeeh (Syria), Amal Gamal (Egypt), Andrew Mohsen (Egypt), Erfan Rashid (Iraq, Italy), Essam Zakaria (Egypt), Hammadi Gueroum (Morocco), Hassan Haddad (Bahrain), Hauvick Habéchian (Lebanon), Houda Ibrahim (Lebanon), Husam Asi (Palestine, UK), Ibrahim Haj Abdi (Syria), Ikbal Zalila (Tunisia), Kadhum Saloom (Iraq), Kais Kassem (Iraq, Sweden), Khaled Mahmoud (Egypt), Khalid Ali (Sudan/UK), Khalil Demmoun (Morocco), Lamia Guiga (Tunisia), Magda Khirallah (Egypt), Mahdi Abbas (Iraq), Mohamed Atef (Egypt), Mohamed Benaziz (Morocco), Mohammed Chouika (Morocco), Mohammed Rouda (Lebanon, UK), Nabil Hadji (Algeria), Nada Azhari (Syria), Nadim Jarjoura (Lebanon), Nageh Hassan (Jordan), Ola Kamel Al-Sheikh (Palestine, UAE), Ola Shafey (Egypt), Ossama Abdel Fattah (Egypt), Rachid Naim (Morocco), Rasha Hosny (Egypt), Safaa Elaisy (Egypt), Safaa Jibara Al-saleh (Iraq, UK), Tarek Ben Chaabane (Tunisia), Tarek El Shinnawi (Egypt), Ziad Khuzai (Iraq).
Arab Cinema Center
Organized by MAD Solutions, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is now celebrating the fifth year since its inception in 2015. A non-profit 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 its organised events. The ACC also provides networking opportunities with repre-sentatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others.
Cairo International Film Festival
The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) is one of only 15 Festivals accorded as a category "A" status by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations FIAPF. It is the oldest and only internationally accredited cultural feature film festival in the Arab World, Africa and the Middle East.
The history of CIFF goes back to 1975, after a visit to the Berlin Film Festival the late writer-critic Kamal El Mallakh and a group of like-minded cinema critics wondered why such a world-class festival couldn't take place in Egypt. The country was still riding the crest of Egyptian cinema's golden age and contained a formidable film industry, still the biggest in the Arab world. The Cairo International Film Festival was launched in 1976.
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