Three Films Dominate ACC’s 8th Critics Awards for Arab Films

Mohamed Mandour

GOODBYE JULIA, FOUR DAUGHTERS and INSHALLAH A BOY were the big winners of this year’s Critics Awards for Arab Films, each picking up multiple prizes at a beach-side ceremony held during this week’s 77th Cannes Film Festival.

Organized by the Arab Cinema Center, in collaboration with MAD Solutions, the International Emerging Film Talent Association, and NEFT Emerging Film Talent International Competition, this the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films in which as many as 225 recognised film critics from around the world select the best achievements in Arab filmmaking during 2023. All of these critics had the opportunity to view the films through the ACC's partner Festival Scope.

Mohamed Kordofani’SGOODBYE JULIA won for both Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay. Kaouther Ben Hania’SFOUR DAUGHTERS, which was nominated for best documentary feature at this year’s Academy Awards won for Best Director, Best Documentary and Best Editing.

MounaHawa was named Best Actress for her performance in MounaHawa’s INSHALLAH A BOY, which also won for Best Cinematography. Saleh Bakri was named Best Actor for his lead role in THE TEACHER.

This year’s edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films introduced a new Best Short Film category which was won by the Morad Mostafa’s I PROMISE YOU PARADISE. Other winners included Amin Bouhafa’s Saudi feature HAJJAN, which won for Best Music.

The list of the winners is as follows:

Best Feature Film

GOODBYE JULIA | Mohamed Kordofani | Sudan

Best Director

Kaouther Ben Hania | FOUR DAUGHTERS | Tunisia

Best Screenplay

Mohamed Kordofani | GOODBYE JULIA | Sudan

Best Actress

MounaHawa | INSHALLAH A BOY | Jordan

Best Actor

Saleh Bakri | THE TEACHER | Palestine

Best Documentary