The 2025 edition marks another milestone in the award's legacy, with a record-breaking 281 jury members from 75 countries voting on the standout Arab films of the past year. Nominees were selected from films that premiered outside the Arab world in the 2024 calendar year.

Here's the final list of nominees:
Best Feature Film
● THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! | Laila Abbas | Palestine
● EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA | Nabil Ayouch | Morocco
● SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO | Khaled Mansour | Egypt
● AÏCHA | Mehdi Barsaoui | Tunisia
● GHOST TRAIL | Jonathan Millet | France

Best Director
● Laila Abbas | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
● Nabil Ayouch | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
● Khaled Mansour | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
● Jonathan Millet | GHOST TRAIL
● Mahdi Fleifel | TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Best Screenplay
● Laila Abbas | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
● Nabil Ayouch & Maryam Touzani | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
● Mehdi Barsaoui | AÏCHA
● Jonathan Millet & Florence Rochat | GHOST TRAIL
● Mo Harawe | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE

Best Actor
● Essam Omar | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
● Adam Bessa | GHOST TRAIL
● Yagoub Alfarhan | NORAH
● Muhammad Farrag | VOY! VOY! VOY!
● Majd Mastoura | AGORA

Best Actress
● Yasmine Al Massri | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
● Nisrin Erradi | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
● Hala Rajab | GHOST TRAIL
● Diamand Abou Abboud | ARZÉ
● Rakeen Saad | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO

Best Cinematography
● Antoine Héberlé | AÏCHA
● Mostafa El Kashef | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE
● Thodoros Mihopoulos | TO A LAND UNKNOWN
● Jonathan Sela | THE STRANGERS' CASE
● Wojciech Staron | RED PATH

Best Editing
● Heba Othman | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
● Yasser Azmy | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
● Joana Scrinzi | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE
● Ahmed Hafez | VOY! VOY! VOY!
● Noaz Deshe & Felipe Guerrero | XOFTEX

Best Music
● Kristian Eidnes Andersen & Flemming Nordkrog | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
● Amin Bouhafa | AÏCHA
● Omar Fadel | NORAH
● Florencia Di Concilio | THE VANISHING
● Rodrigo D'Erasmo | SAMIA

Best Documentary
● NO OTHER LAND
● DIARIES FROM LEBANON
● A FIDAH FILM
● SUDAN, REMEMBER US
● FROM GROUND ZERO

Best Short Film
● AFTER THE SUN
● UPSHOT
● MANGO
● SHADOWS
● A SHORT FILM ABOUT KIDS

About the Critics Awards for Arab Films:

The first Critics Awards for Arab Films was held on the margins of the 70th Cannes Film Festival and is an annual event held in partnership with Festival Scope that honors the best Arab productions of the previous year with awards in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Best Short, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Music.
With the ninth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films, the ACC reaffirms its mission to celebrate and empower Arab filmmakers, ensuring their stories resonate on an international scale. As the center enters its next decade, it continues to be a driving force behind the ever-evolving and dynamic Arab film industry.
For the past decade, the ACC has been at the forefront of championing and nurturing up-and-coming directors who dare to explore revolutionary film genres. With a steadfast commitment to fostering creativity and innovation, the center has become a pivotal force in the Arab film industry. By providing invaluable guidance, mentorship, and resources, the ACC empowers emerging filmmakers to push boundaries, challenge conventions, and bring their unique visions to life.

About the Arab Cinema Center:

Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the ACC is a nonprofit organization registered in Berlin and is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema, providing the Arab filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with its 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, a 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 provides a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers' access to international markets and help film industry representatives easily identify Arab film productions.

Arab Cinema Center Names Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Hassan Alremaihi as its Arab Cinema Personality of 2025
In recognition of her distinguished work in supporting and advancing Qatari, Arab, and international cinema, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is bestowing its sixth Arab Cinema Personality of the Year Award to Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of Doha Film Institute (DFI), during the 78th Cannes Film Festival, which will run from May 13th to the 24th.
The award is designed to honor and highlight prominent industry figures whose persistent contributions have helped elevate the Arab film industry in the eyes of the international filmmaking community as a whole.