Brussels: Europe and Arabs
The 24th edition of the Mediterranean Cinema Film Festival, held from November 28 to December 6 in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, concluded on Friday evening. The Egyptian film "Searching for an Exit for Mr. Rambo" by director Khaled Mansour won the Grand Jury Prize and the Critics Committee Prize. The Egyptian film "Raised My Eyes to the Sky" won another award and was praised by the festival management.
The events witnessed a record attendance once again. "We are recording record attendance figures with an increase of more than 20% and the majority of screenings are full," confirmed Aurelie Losseau, one of the festival's Cinemamed coordinators. She added, "Through this success, we confirm once again that Cinemamed was and will remain a cultural space that calls for dialogue, openness to others and creating links between societies." The Egyptian film "Searching for an Exit for Mr. Rambo" by director Khaled Mansour won the Grand Prize.
It is the director's first feature film, co-written by Mohamed El-Husseini, and produced by Mohamed Hefzy "Film Clinic" and Rasha Hosny.
It embodies the character "Hassan" is the film's hero Essam Omar in his first cinematic experience. The film also stars Reem Saad, Sama Ibrahim, Ahmed Bahaa, one of the founders of the "Charmoofers" band, and others who are guests of honor in the film, in addition to a number of young actors. According to the festival's management, "the official jury wanted to reward a film with social, human and political content, which is handled with brilliance and intelligence, and deserves to be seen by the largest possible number of people. It is a film that goes beyond the borders of Cairo and Egypt," the festival's official website added. "We are all." The jury members lived "a real cinematic moment. The film is written and directed with shots, colors, lights and images of rare beauty that will remain in the memory." This film also won the Critics' Award. The jury of the official competition consisted of French actor and musician Theo Cholbi, French-Lebanese actress Laetitia Ido, Belgian-Turkish director Tolin Ozmider, and Belgian actor Salim Talbi. French-Tunisian director Lotfi Achour won the Special Jury Prize for his film “Red Children”. This film also won the Citizen’s Eye Award. The official jury decided to award Ali Al-Hilali for his performance in the film and gave the “Renewal” award to another Egyptian film called “I Raised My Eyes to the Sky” by directors Nada Riad and Ayman Al-Amir. This film also won the Young Jury Award. The film revolves around a group of brave girls who decide to establish a theatre troupe and perform their plays inspired by Upper Egyptian folklore. The girls fill the streets of their small village with passion, joy, singing and dancing, while dreaming of becoming famous stars despite all the challenges. The film gives a voice to this new generation of Egyptian youth and gives them a window to express their dreams and future. The film stars the Panorama Barsha Theatre team, Magda Masoud, Heidi Sameh, Monica Youssef, Marina Samir, Mariam Nassar, Lydia Haroun, and Justina Samir, the team’s founder, and is produced by Feluka Films. The Revolution Jury also chose to award Fatima Safar an appreciation award for her performance in the film “Aisha” by Mehdi Barsaoui. The audience award went to Perivane Benevsa's "The Virgin and the Child" and the members of the Les Grenades jury praised "the complex female character that illustrates a story that is still not well known, also based in Belgium, for the amazing interpretation given by the lead actress Hevin Tekin, for the strength of her silence, for the sorority that unfolds there and for the film showing the duality of unwanted motherhood". The Les Grenades jury gave a special mention to the documentary "Widows!" by Sonia Pastecchia. Finally, the Cineuropa award went to "Vermiglio" by Maura Delpero, "a delicate, sensitive and minimalist film that depicts the conservatism that is still very present in an era that is still very close to us".