Arab Cinema Center announces awards shortlist

The Reports On Sarah And Saleem

The short-listed nominees for the 3rd Arab Cinema Center Annual Critics Award have been announced. Vying for Best Film are AB Shawky's Yomeddine, which sees a cured leper take an unorthodox road trip across Egypt with a young orphan, Lebanese director Nadine Labaki's Oscar-nominated Capernaum, about a boy suing his parents for neglect, and The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, directed by Muayad Alyan, which shows how an extramarital affair has sociopolitical consequences in Jerusalem.

The awards were voted on by 75 critics from 34 countries and the winners will be announced at a fringe event at Cannes.

Film analyst Alaa Karkouti, managing partner of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) and CEO of MAD Solutions, said: "Every year, the number of the film critics, who are jury members of the Annual Critics Awards, from inside and outside the Arab world increases. They come together to view the best Arab feature and documentary film productions, which makes us achieve our goal of promoting Arab film content to critics from different nationalities and backgrounds, especially that the majority of them don't get the chance to watch all the Arab films that get selected at international film festivals."

Film critic Ahmed Shawky, manager of the Critics Awards, said: "All six categories have seen strong competition during the first phase of voting in this edition, and we faced great difficulty selecting the three finalists in each category. This doesn't only reveal the high level of competition that is expected to take place during the final phase of voting, but it also indicates the increasing growth in the Arab filmmaking industry during last year, which resulted in this number of exceptional films. It was a hot year full of several Arab films that got selected, competed and won numerous international awards at many film festivals in 2018."

The video of the Arab Cinema Center announcement is below:

The Final List of Nominees are:

Best Film

Yomeddine, Director: Abu Bakr Shawky, Egypt

Capernaum, Director: Nadine Labaki, Lebanon

The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, Director: Muayad Alayan, Palestine

Best Documentary

Of Fathers And Sons, Directed by Talal Derki, Syria

Erased, ___ Ascent of the Invisible, Directed by Ghassan Halwani, Lebanon

Chaos, Directed by Sara Fatahy, Lebanon, Syria

Best Director

Abu Bakr Shawky, Yomeddine, Egypt

Nadine Labaki, Capernaum, Lebanon

Hicham Lasri, Jahilya, Morocco

Best Screenplay

Meryem Benm'Barek, Sofia, Morocco

Yomeddine, Abu Bakr Shawky, Egypt

Rami Alayan, The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, Palestine

Best Actress

Maha Alemi, Sofia, Morocco

Maryhan Magdy, Poisonous Roses, Egypt

Sarah Layssac, Divine Wind, Algeria

Best Actor

Mohamed Dhrif, Dear Son (Weldi), Tunisia

Ahmed Hafiane, Fatwa, Tunisia

Zain Al Rafeea, Capernaum, Lebanon