Directed by Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, the film received the top honour in the Horizons of Arab Cinema section, winning the Saad Eldin Wahba Award for Best Arabic Film.

In addition to the major award, State of Passion was recognized as Best Documentary, sharing the award with the Egyptian film Abu Zaabal 89 by Bassam Mortada.

The film also received a Special Mention from the jury in the CIFF's section dedicated to Palestinian Cinema.

The film focuses on the life of Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah (b. 1969), a British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon whose family was displaced from Palestine's Beersheba in 1948 and relocated to Khan Younis in Gaza.

Abu Sittah, who graduated from the University of Glasgow, served as head of the plastic surgery department at the American University of Beirut from 2012 to 2021. He continues to work with the National Institute for Health Research in the UK.

State of Passion offers a biographical glimpse into the life of this renowned doctor, capturing personal moments with his family, wife, and mother while never straying from the overarching Palestinian struggle and the struggles faced by the people of Gaza under the brutal Israeli occupation.

The documentary highlights Abu Sittah's reflections on various experiences, including his most recent struggles in two separate hospitals in Gaza amid the current genocidal campaign on the strip, from managing the injured to anaesthetics and the harsh reality that doctors face. 

The film incorporates interviews with the doctor and his family and archival footage embedded in the doctor's unique narrative style. 

The 45th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) closed on Friday, 22 November, with a ceremony announcing the winners at the Cairo Opera House.

This year, the CIFF focused especially on Palestinian Cinema. Rashid Masharawi's film Passing Dreams was screened at its opening. 

In addition to the State of Passion, other Palestinian documentaries—Holidays in Palestine by Maxime Lindon and Gazan Tales by Mahmoud Nabil Ahmed—were screened and followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers. 

The 45th CIFF also introduced From Ground Zero, a project initiated by Rashid Masharawi. This ambitious compilation of 22 short films from Gaza filmmakers offers a raw and unfiltered glimpse into life in the besieged strip. 

The festival also created a new segment titled Spotlight on Palestinian Cinema, where three shorts were screened: Born a Celebrity by Luay Awwad, Square Kilometre Dreams by Qassam Sbeih, and The Deer's Tooth by Saif Hammash.

The Short Films Competition screened other titles from Palestine, including Moatasem Taha's A Boring Poetic Life and Annie Sakkab's The Poem We Sang.