announcing the three finalists of the arab critics’ awards for european films

Three films have been shortlisted for this year's Arab Critics‘ Awards for European Films, hosted by European Film Promotion (EFP) and the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) for the sixth time. From a total of 22 submitted European films, the three finalists are Flow and The Seed of the Sacred Fig – the entries from Latvia and Germany in the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category and Loveable from Norway, which premiered in the Crystal Globe main competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and secured five major awards.

The animated film Flow by Latvian Gints Zilbalodis follows a courageous cat after its home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog, these fated companions navigate a boat in search of dry land and they all have to trust each other as well as stick together in this challenging situation. The film has no dialogue at all, which is a conscious decision made by director Gints Zilbalodis: “I’ve never had any dialogue in my films, because my strength lies in telling stories visually. I made a film about a character stranded alone on an island so that he doesn’t need to speak with anyone. This time, it’s all about animals. My favourite films are the ones that are visually driven.” Flow, a co-production between Latvia (Dream Well Studio), Belgium (Take Five) and France (Sacrebleu Productions), was the only animated film in this year‘s Un certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. It took home four trophies from the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and is nominated as Latvia’s entry for the 97th Academy Awards.

Loveable is written, directed and edited by Lilja Ingolfsdottir and marks her feature film debut. The director follows 40-year-old Maria who come to terms with herself when her husband says that he wants a divorce. Ingolfsdottier wants to give “a fresh representation of the relationship between a woman and a man on film.” Loveable is a multilayered character study and a portray of a modern women “who learns and understands how she can break out of the martyr role and become the determinant in her own life.” The Norwegian film, produced by Thomas Robsam for Nordisk Film Production A/S and Amarcord (The Worst Person in the World) premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and received praise from both international audiences and critics. Along with the Special Jury Prize and the Award for Best Actress (Helga Guren), the film also won the Europa Cinemas Label Jury Award, the FIPRESCI Jury Award, and the Ecumenical Jury Award.

For The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was inspired by an encounter in an Iranian prison during his imprisonment. A prison guard had taken him aside and revealed to him that he wanted to kill himself because his family and children were constantly criticising him for doing this kind of work; this became the theme of his film: The drama tells the story of an Iranian investigative judge who, as a result of the nationwide political protests against the authoritarian government, has to deal with his family’s increasing mistrust and paranoia. Shot under the most difficult conditions and in secrecy, following an arduous escape from his home country, Mohammad Rasoulof was able to attend the world premiere of his film at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival where he received the Special Jury Prize and four additional awards. Produced by Rasoulof's Hamburg-based company Run Way Pictures in coproduction with Parallel45 (France), the film is Germany's entry for the 97th Academy Awards.

89 of the most prominent and influential Arab film critics from 15 Arab-speaking countries have chosen the three films for the shortlist and will announce the winning film during the El Gouna Film Festival (24 October – 1 November 2024).

The Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films was launched in 2019 by EFP and ACC. It is a spin-off from the ACC’s now well-established Critics‘ Awards to boost film diversity in the region and raise the interest of sales companies and the industry for outstanding European films. This initiative also aims to cast a spotlight on the distinguished film critics from 15 Arab-speaking countries and their important role in opening up new perspectives and bridging cultural diversities. The previous four winners were God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya by Teona Strugar Mitevska (2019), Undine by Christian Petzold (2020), 107 Mothers by Péter Kerekes (2021), EO by Jerzy Skolimowski (2022) and Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki (2023).

The Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films is made possible thanks to the support of Creative Europe – the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

about arab cinema center

Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is a non-profit organization registered in Berlin. The ACC is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema as it provides the filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with their counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes. The ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. The ACC’s activities vary between film markets, stands, and pavilions, networking sessions, and one-to-one meetings bringing together Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, as well as meetings with international organizations and festivals, and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets. Furthermore, newsletter subscription is now available on the ACC’s website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on the ACC’s activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from the ACC’s partners and their future projects.

about el gouna film festival

El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) was founded in 2017 with the mission to showcase a diverse range of films catering to a creative and well-versed audience. Designed for artists and filmmakers, GFF aspires to foster communication between cultures and filmmakers to benefit the industry and our region through the art of filmmaking by connecting filmmakers from the region with their international counterparts in the spirit of cooperation and cultural exchange. The festival is dedicated to the discovery of new voices and strives to be a catalyst for the development of cinema in the Arab world, particularly through its industry segment, CineGouna Platform.

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