“EXT. Night” wins the best film at Malmö Arab Film Festival

Malmo – 8 October 2019

The ninth edition of the Malmö Arab Film Festival, after a successful session that witnessed many activities, concluded with awarding the Egyptian film “EXT. Night” by Ahmad Abdalla El Sayed the best feature film, the festival’s biggest prize of 20,000 SEK. Main actors Sherif El Desoky and Mona Hala received the award in front of the audience who filled the Royal Cinema, Sweden’s largest cinema.

The jury of feature films made up of actress Laila Alawi, critic Qais Qassem and director Ridha Behi (who participated in an online discussion after he could not be in Malmö) gave the best director award to Lebanese Bahij Hojeij for his film “Good Morning”. The film “Screwdriver” by Palestinian director Bassam Jarbawi won Best Screenplay Award.

As for the two awards for acting, Tunisian star Ahmed Hafiane won the best actor award for his role in the “Fatwa” by Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud, while Moroccan Fatima Atif won best actress award for her role in “The Healer” by Mohamed Zineddaine.

In the short film competition, the jury composed of producer Layaly Badr, critics Waleed Seif and Nabil Hajji awarded the best short film prize of 10,000 SEK for the Tunisian film “Brotherhood” by Maryam Joobeur. The best short film director with 5,000 SEK went also to a Tunisisan fil “Sheikh’s Watermelon” by Kaouther Ben Hania, and a special mention went to “The Sparrow” directed by Nasri Hajjaj.

The prizes of the feature documentary competition were decided by a jury composed of director Mai Masry, critic Tarek Ben Chaabane and director of the Tripoli Film Festival, Elias Khlat. Best Documentary award of 15,000 SEK went to the Lebanese film “Erased,___ Ascent of the Invisible” by Ghassan Halwani. Sarah Kaskas won the best director for her film “Underdown”, and a special mention went to the Sudanese film “Khartoum Offside” by Marwa Zein.

The audience choice award presented by the Culture Office in Malmö went to the Egyptian film “The Guest” by Hadi El Bagoury.

“Al-Nahar” newspaper award, whose jury consisted of critics Adnan Hussien Ahmed, Mustafa Kaoud and Marwa Abu Eish, went to “Screwdriver” by Bassam Jarbawi.

The festival closing film was “One Day One Night” by Ayman Makram, produced by Dar Al Maraia and starring Khaled El Nabawy, Dora, Ahmed El Fishawy and Hanan Motawea. Film star Dora, along with director Ayman Makram, scriptwriter Yehya Fikri and producer Remon Ramsis, presented the film to the audience who filled the hall to watch the film whose world premiere took place in Malmö