ACC declares winners of second annual Critics Awards

CAIRO – 13 May 2018: The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has declared the winners of the second Annual Critics Awards.

The Best Actor award went to Mohamad Bakri for his role in the movie “Wajib”. The Best Actress award was granted to Mariam Al Ferjani for her role in the film “Beauty and the Dogs”. The Best Screenplay went to Annemarie Jacir for “Wajib”. Ziad Doueiri was awarded the Best Director award for “The Insult”, and “Taste of Cement” won the Best Documentary award.

The winners, who come from eight Arab countries, were selected by 62 film critics from 28 countries around the world. The critics viewed the Arab features and documentaries produced in 2017 on the digital platform Festival Scope, a partner of the Arab Cinema Center.

The awards are given to the best Arab film productions every year in the following categories: Best Film (feature and documentary), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Actor. This year, the Critics Awards' jury brings together 62 of the most prominent Arab and international film critics from 28 countries all over the world for the first time in the history of Arab cinema.

The final list of nominees for the Critics Awards were selected according to certain criteria, such as the films must have 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, the films must be feature-length films (fiction or documentary).

The first annual Critics Awards was launched within the 70th Cannes Film Festival. The winners are slated to be announced during the 71st Cannes Film Festival (May 8-19).

Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center 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 market main wings, introduction and networking sessions for Arab and foreign filmmakers; welcome parties; meetings with international organizations and festivals; and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at leading international film festivals and markets.

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.