Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

On Saturday evening, the 22nd edition of the Euro-Mediterranean Film Festival, which was held in Brussels from the second to the tenth of December, concluded. At the closing ceremony, which was attended by elite men of art, culture and society, awards were distributed. The festival management thanked all the participants who were keen to celebrate the culture of the Mediterranean. As for the Grand Prize, it was won by the Spanish film “Al Karas” directed by Carla Simon.

The Special Jury Prize was awarded to the joint Italian-French-Belgian film “No Dogs and Italians” directed by Alain Augetto, an animated film that tells the story of an Italian family’s emigration movement at the beginning of the twentieth century and praises the exiles who are driven by humanity, which honors the director’s family. As for what is known as the Revolution Prize, it was won by the Tunisian-French joint film “Under the Teen,” directed by Irij Suhairi. The jury praised the film’s message.

The Youth Jury Prize was awarded to the movie “Allam” by Firas Khoury, which is a Palestinian-Qatari-Saudi-Tunisian co-production. The jury also praised the movie “Amanda” by Carolina Cavalli, which is a French-Italian co-production.

Forbidden to Dogs and Italians, directed by Alain Augetto, also won the Audience Award and the European Film Award, along with Snow and the Bear, directed by Selcen Ergun, a Turkish-German joint production. Fever, directed by Maha Al-Hajj, won the Critics’ Award, which is a French-German-Qatari co-production.

The movie "The Blue Caftan" by Moroccan Maryam Touzani was at the opening ceremony of the festival, and it is a joint production film with France and Belgium.

The festival activities included the screening of dozens of films from Arab and European countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Turkey, Israel, France, Germany, Greece, Belgium and others. A number of these films are joint productions between Arab and European countries or Arab Mediterranean countries and others outside the Mediterranean basin such as the United Arab Emirates. And the United States

These films competed through the official competition of the festival, for which a jury comprising distinguished artistic and cinematic personalities was selected. Some of the films were screened in other events such as "Panorama", and 17 films were screened. The festival management said that many Mediterranean films need theaters in the West Bank. Others, so that the public can get to know more about this Mediterranean world, in addition to documentaries, musical and lyrical concerts, seminars, art exhibitions, and events that reflect the culture and arts that characterize the countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.

In this session, there was a special section on Palestine under the title "Looks on Palestine", on the second day of the launch of the activities, and it included films and artistic events about Palestine.,