Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab's movie Clash (Eshtebak) has won the Critics' Prize at the 16th Mediterranean Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium.

The annual film festival ran from 2 and 9 December this year, and included over 70 films representing different genres and lengths, with offerings from all the Mediterranean countries.

The winner of the Grand Prix this year was the Italian drama Fiore, directed by Claudio Giovannesi.

However, the Egyptian drama Clash took the Critics' Prize, having premiered at the Un Certain Regard section at the 69th the Cannes Film Festival last May.

The film explores the confrontations between pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators that emerged following the removal of president Mohamed Morsi from power on 3 July 2013.

The film recently scooped four awards at the 27th edition of the Carthage Film Festival in October: the second highest prize in the festival's feature-film competition; the Best Photography Award; the Best Editing Award; and the African University Award for Cinematic Criticism for Best Feature Film (The Nagiba El-Hamrony Award).

It also did well at the 61st Valladolid Film Festival (Seminci, Spain), which was held between 22 and 29 October, taking Best New Director, Best Director of Photography, and the Sociograph Award, which is voted for by the audience. The film also competed in the 60th BFI London Film Festival.

Prior to its success in Brussels, the film won The Golden Pram at the 14th Zagreb Film Festival in Croatia, which ran between 12 and 20 November.

The same month, the Dubai International Film Festival presented Clash for Golden Globe consideration.

The Hollywood Reporter named Clash one of the 10 best films at the Cannes Film Festival.

Clash is Egypt's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards 2017.

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