Directed by Tamer El-Said and starring Khalid Abdalla, the film 'In the Last Days of the City' was announced winner of this year's Caligari Film Prize.

The film was screened in the Forum segment of the Berlin International Film Festival, which runs between 11 and 21 February.

It is also nominated for the Best Feature Award.

According to information provided by the Berlinale website, each year, a five-person jury awards the Caligari Film Prize to a film in the Forum. 

"The prize is sponsored by the German Federal Association of Communal Film Work and 'filmdienst' magazine. The winning film is honoured with 4,000 Euros, half of which is given to the director, the other half is meant to fund distribution."

Akher Ayyam El-Medina (In the Last Days of the City) has been chosen as the only entry by an Egyptian director to take part in the 46th annual Berlinale Forum. This was the film's world premiere.

According to a note about the film released by the Berlinale organisers, El-Said's feature sees his alter-ego Khalid star as a Cairo-based film-maker strugging to make a film about the city, which is in a state of uproar.

The shooting of the film began in 2008, taking the filmmakers to Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin and bringing together many talents from the Arab world.

Co-produced by Zero Production, the film was written by El-Said and Rasha Salti. The film's art director is late renowned artist Salah Marei.

A graduate in film direction from the High Institute of Cinema in 2008, El-Said is an Egyptian filmmaker, writer and producer who lives and works in Cairo. 

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