The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has announced the nominees for the first Arab Critics Awards, set to take place in parallel to the opening of the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May.

The five awards are granted for best film, best director, best scriptwriter, and best actor and actress.

The best film nominees are Eshtebak ('Clash' -- Egypt), Inhebek Hedi (Tunisia) and In the Last Days of the City (Egypt, UAE).

Nominees for best actor are Magd Mastoora, for Tunisian film Inhebek Heddi; Ahmed Taher, for Jordanian film Inshallah Istafadt; and Hisham Faqih for Saudi Arabian film Barakah Meets Barakah.

For the best actress award Sara El-Hanashy was nominated for her role in the Tunisian film Jassad Gharib (Foreign Body), Heba Ali for Egyptian film Withered Green, and Julia Kassar for Lebanese film Rabih.

Eshtebak and Withered Green were nominated for best script, along with Akher Wahed Fina (The Last of Us) a co-production between Tunisia, Qatar, UAE and Lebanon.

Competing for the best director award are Egyptian filmmakers Mohamed Hammad for Withered Green and Mohamed Diab for Eshtebak, along with Tunisian director Alaa Eddin Slim for Akher Wahed Fina.

To qualify, films were required to be feature length fiction or documentary with one of the production entities being Arab, and have had their premiere at an international festival outside the Arab world during 2016.

Egyptian critic Ahmed Shawky will serve as manager of the awards and their ceremony. The jury which will select the winners includes over 20 top film critics from 15 countries, including two Egyptians: Ossama Abdel-Fattah, Tarek El-Shennawi.

Prior to his death, late Egyptian critic Samir Farid was also selected to sit on the prestigious jury.

The Arab Cinema Center, an international promotional platform for Arab cinema, is organised by Egyptian distributor and multimedia agency MAD Solutions.

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