The 37th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) closed Friday at the main hall of the Cairo Opera House.
This round had commenced on 11 November and featured a total of 120 films.
This year, a total of 16 films from 15 different countries participated in the festival’s main competition, headed by British producer Paul Webster.
The Best Artistic Contribution Award went to the Croatian film The High Sun by director Dalibor Matanic.
The Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Best Screenplay went to the Romanian film The Treasure by screenwriter and director Corneliu Porumboiu.
The Best Actress Prize went to French actress Louise Bourgoin for her performance in the French film I am a Soldier.
The Best Actor Prize went to Ghanaian actor Koudous Seihon for his performance in Mediterranea.
Argentinean director Santiago Mitre received The Bronze Pyramid for Best First/Second Work of a Director for his Spanish film Paulina, and Icelandic director Dagur Kári received The Silver Pyramid Special Jury Prize for Best Director for his film Virgin Mountain.
As for The Golden Pyramid Best Film Prize, it went to Mediterranea by Italian-American director Jonas Carpignano.
Besides the festival's main competition, this edition also comprised a number of parallel programmes including The Cinema of Tomorrow International Competition, Cairo Film Critics Week and Horizons of Arab Cinema.
For the Cinema of Tomorrow International Competition, organised by the Higher Institute of Cinema, the award went to the Swiss film Out of the Highway. Additionally, a second award, the first prize for short films, went to the Greek film Euro Man.
The Cinema of Tomorrow International Competition was headed by Ghada Gobara, dean of the institute, and was run by director Saad Hindawy.
The Polish film Red Spider received the Cairo Film Critics Week’s grand prize. The Critics Week was organised by the Egyptian Film Critics Association, headed by critic Mohsen Gwify and run by director Ahmed Hassouna.
Three awards were given out by the Horizons of Arab Cinema, organised by the Cinematic Professions Syndicate, headed by director Mosaad Foda and run by screenwriter Sayed Fouad.
The film Fi Youm (In a Day-Egypt) by Egyptian filmmaker Karim Shaaban received special mention.
A special award went to Bahraini film Al-Shajara Al-Naema (The Sleeping Tree) by director Mohammed Rashed, and the Best Film Award went to the Syrian film Fi Intizar El-Kharif (Waiting for Autumn-Syria) by director Joud Said.
Additionally, the Nadine Shams Award, named after the late screenwriter Nadine Shams, and which is distributed as part of CIFF, was announced prior to the ceremony.
The award was introduced last year in honour of the late Shams and in support of budding and young screenwriters by offering training workshops as well as extending financial awards to an array of short films.
Mohamed Abdelreheem received the first award for his film El Nahar Dah W Kol Youm, and Ahmed Essam El Shamaa received the second award for his film Nehar Kharegi. The third award went to Mahmoud El Saghir and Emad Mabrouk for their film El Motamem Le Shahr Ramadan. Moreover, Seif Allah Hani received the Encouragement Award for his film Fi Intizar Judo, and screenwriter Menna Taher received a special award for her film Ping Pong.
The jury also gave grants to five film projects including Geziret El Toot, Al Arawah El Mounira, Qout El Quloub and Dafa.
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