“Les mécréants” wins award for Best Arab Film in Cairo
The fiction film “Les mécréants” by Mohcine Besri was the winner of the award in the Arab Feature Film Competition at the Cairo International Film Festival, which took place in spite of the tense political situation.
10.12.2012
“Les mécréants,” the feature-length fiction film debut by the Geneva-based Swiss-Moroccan director was honoured with the Naguib Mahfouz Award for Best Arab Film, endowed with 30,000 dollars (approximately CHF 28'000), at the 35th Cairo International Film Festival. The festival took place from November 27 to December 6, 2012, despite the very tense political situation in Egypt at the moment. The jury of the Arab Competition – in which the Swiss- Moroccan coproduction was screened – was comprised of six members from the Middle East presented the award to a “a film with high artistic value inviting for dialogue, cohabitation and acceptance of the other.” Mohcine Besri, whose film is highly topical due to the current debate over art in Egypt, experienced the tense atmosphere of this year’s festival, which in fact had to be cancelled last year. Many of the festival participants and jury members were on the Tahrir Square to witness the magnitude of the revolution at first hand. Mohcine Besri accepted the award in Cairo together with the film’s editor Naïma Bachiri and Jamila El Haouni, one of the leading actresses.
Awards for Swiss short films
The award-winning short film productions include: Rolando Colla’s “Einspruch VI,” which won its 16th award – the Special Award for Values and Human Rights – at the 11th International Short Film Festival in Almeira, Spain (December 4-8, 2012). Marie-Elsa Sgualdo’s short fiction film “On The Beach” won the Golden Goats Award for Best Short Film for Young People at the 30th Ale Kino! – International Young Audience Film Festival in Poznan, Poland (December 2-9). Lena von Döhren’s animated cartoon film “Der kleine Vogel und das Blatt” was honoured with the Giga + Nano Award for the Children’s Programme endowed with EUR 1,000, at the 9th Animateka International Festival of Animated Film in Ljubljana (December 3-9). And lastly, Isabel Favez won the “Cinécole en vendômois” Prize for her film “Au coeur de l’hiver” presented by the national jury at the 21st Festival du Film de Vendôme (November 30 – December 7).
Geneva, December 10, 2012