5th Critics Awards for Arab Films

Held within the events of the 74th Cannes Film Festival, Arab Cinema Center announced the winners of the 5th Critics Awards for Arab Films.

the Achievement Award for Film Critics to Lebanese Film Critic Mohammed Rouda & American Film Critic Sydney Levine
Within the activities of the 74th Cannes Film Festival, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has announced that the recipients of its Achievement Award for Film Critics this year are Lebanese Film Critic Mohammed Rouda & American Film Critic Sydney Levine for their inspiring careers in film criticism in the Arab world. The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) also dedicated a section that sheds the light on Mohammed Rouda and Sydney Levine's careers, within the new edition of the Arab Cinema Magazine.
Film Critic Mohammed Rouda commented on this, saying "I'm thrilled to receive this award in 2021, the Year that witnesses the comeback of the world's prestigious Cannes Film Festival. I'm humbled to be awarded such an award from the Arab Cinema Center and its inspiring director Alaa Karkouti. I wasn't able to be with you because of some emergency situation, and unlike some movies, no one can be in two places at the same time.
"As for me, most of you know how much I loved cinema, which should not be just a word we carry around. Millions of people express their love of cinema on a daily basis, by attending, watching, exchanging ideas and being there for the most exciting of all arts. Film criticism is not just linked to the art of cinema, it is an integral part of it. For the new generation, this is what I, humbly, advise: learn more and write better." Mohammed Rouda added.
Film Critic Sydney Levine, says, "To be awarded for achievement by The Arab Cinema Center is an honor, which makes me feel so proud and so much more responsible for bringing awareness to the Middle East and North Africa through their artists' ever increasing cinematic excellence! I have achieved very little compared to what these filmmakers have achieved over the past few years."
Co-founders of ACC, Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, commented, "We seek to shed the light on the film criticism through the Arab Cinema Center, honoring those film critics who promote for the Arab cinema by writing about it inside or outside the Arab world. With regard to Mohammed Rouda and Sydney Levine, they both have an incredible rich career. They have been tirelessly writing about hundreds of Arab films, which makes them among the most influencing within the Arab film industry."
Born in Beirut, Mohammed Rouda has been a film critic and a journalist for over 40 years‎ now. Before assuming his current position as Senior Editor/Film Critic at the pan-Arab daily Asharq ‎Alawsat, Rouda was a Festival Consultant and Associate Director of the Competition for the Dubai International Film Festival (2005-2008). Rouda also worked as a producer and presenter of film shows for Abu Dhabi TV, MBC TV, and Kuwait Television.‎ A prolific writer, he is the author and publisher of The Book of Cinema, an annual review of Arab and international films, and also Arab Cinema in the Sea of Changes. He wrote the original screenplay for the 2006 Saudi-financed Arab feature film WHAT'S UP (Keif al-hal?). Mohammed has been a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (which gives out the Golden Globes), FIPRESCI and The London Film Circle.
Writer of popular blog Sydneys Buzz, Sydney Levine holds a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Southern California, a License from the Sorbonne University of Paris and a BFA from the University of California. In 1988, she started FilmFinders, the database of feature film projects that was adapted by the Cannes Marché to become Cinando.com. Sydney travels extensively on the international film market circuit as a hired panel moderator, educator, and consultant for filmmakers; the Cannes Film Market, the Berlinale's European Film Market and Talent Campus, Deutsche Welle Akademie and others.
By presenting the Achievement Award for Film Critics, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) seeks to highlight the profession of film criticism by honoring one of the Arab or foreign film critics annually at the Cannes Film Festival. Over the past years, the ACC presented this award to Film Critic and Media Figure Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, Lebanese film critic Ibrahim Al Ariss, and American Film Critic Deborah Young.
Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is a nonprofit 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 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.


This year, the international jury panel encompasses 160 film critics from 63 countries.

The jurors will review the Arab films that have been produced in 2020 through the digital platform of Festival Scope, the ACC's partner.

Deborah Young, Manager of the Critics Awards for Arab Films, commented on that saying "Although last year was hard on everyone, the Arab Cinema managed to provide a high-quality level of fiction and documentary films; making it hard to pick the nominees for this year's Critics Awards for Arab Films. My congratulations to everyone who made it this year, and thank you to all the critics of the jury panel for their efforts."

Co-founders of ACC, Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, commented saying "This year's edition witnessed a fierce competition among nominees that were very outstanding.





What's also remarkable about this edition is that Palestine had the greatest share in this competition, winning four awards among a total of six.



This indicates the great progress that the Palestinian cinema has seen during recent years."







Here's the winners' list:

Best Documentary

Lift Like A Girl | Directed by Mayye Zayed | Egypt



Best Actress

Hiam Abbas | Gaza Mon Amour | Palestine



Best Actor:

Ali Suliman | 200 Meters | Palestine



Best Screenplay:

Kaouther ben Hania | The Man Who Sold His Skin | Tunisia



Best Director:

Ameen Nayfeh | 200 METERS | Palestine



Best Feature Film

Gaza Mon Amour| Directed by Arab Nasser - Tarzan Nasser | Palestine



The first edition of the 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 160 of the most prominent Arab and international film critics from 63 countries from all over the world this year.

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 2020, 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).

Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is a nonprofit 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 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.