The Tunisian drama A Son (“Un fils”) has won three awards at the 41st Cairo International Film Festival on Friday, including the main Arab film award.

Directed by Mehdi Barsaoui, the film won Best Arabic Film, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Award and the Salah Abu Seif Prize

The awards were announced during the closing ceremony of the Cairo International Film Festival held at the Cairo Opera House on Friday.

A Son is Barsaoui’s feature debut, “a heartbreaking tale of parenthood, severed family ties, and violence in the wake of the 2011 Tunisian uprisings,” writes Amina Abdel-Halim, a film critic in CIFF’s Bulletin.

“A Son tackles numerous delicate and intense matters, but never falls prey to sentimentality, nor to preachy politicization. Instead, the film carries its viewers along one family’s tumultuous journey, never spoon feeding, but leading the way to profound reflections on family, wounded masculinity, and morality.”

In Cairo, A Son competed with other 11 films within the CIFF’s Horizons of Arab Cinema Competition segment. Prior to its CIFF win, the film also won the Young Talent Award at the Hamburg Film Festival in 2019, while actor Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice Horizons segment of the Venice Film Festival, also this year. The film was also nominated for numerous international awards.

The 41st edition of Cairo International Film Festival took place between 20 and 29 November, screening over 150 films.

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