Four Titles Lead Nominations For 2025 Critics Awards For Arab Films Ahead Of Cannes Ceremony
The Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has announced the nominations for the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films, the ceremony which will take place on the fringes of the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Four films are in the lead, making it into five categories each: Laila Abbas’ Thank You For Banking With Us (Palestine), Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda (Morocco); Jonathan Millet’s Ghost Trail (Tunisia) and Khaled Mansour’s Seeking Haven For Mr. Rambo (Egypt)
Mehdi Barsaoui’s Aïcha (Tunisia) follows with four nominations. Other films in the running include Mo Harawe’s The Village Next To Paradise (Somalia) Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown (Palestine); Omar Hilal’s Voy! Voy! Voy! (Egypt) and Tawfik Alzaidi’s Norah (Saudi Arabia)
This year’s winners will be revealed during a ceremony on May 17 in Cannes. The event is organized by the ACC in collaboration with MAD Solutions and the International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA).
Nominees for the 2025 edition have been selected from Arab films that premiered outside the Arab world in the 2024 calendar year, with the voting process involving a record-breaking 281 jury members from 75 countries.
The full-list of nominees
Best Feature Film
- THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! | Laila Abbas | Palestine
- EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA | Nabil Ayouch | Morocco
- SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO | Khaled Mansour | Egypt
- AÏCHA | Mehdi Barsaoui | Tunisia
- GHOST TRAIL | Jonathan Millet | France
Best Director
- Laila Abbas | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
- Nabil Ayouch | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
- Khaled Mansour | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
- Jonathan Millet | GHOST TRAIL
- Mahdi Fleifel | TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Best Screenplay
- Laila Abbas | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
- Nabil Ayouch & Maryam Touzani | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
- Mehdi Barsaoui | AÏCHA
- Jonathan Millet & Florence Rochat | GHOST TRAIL
- Mo Harawe | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE
Best Actor
- Essam Omar | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
- Adam Bessa | GHOST TRAIL
- Yagoub Alfarhan | NORAH
- Muhammad Farrag | VOY! VOY! VOY!
- Majd Mastoura | AGORA
Best Actress
- Yasmine Al Massri | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
- Nisrin Erradi | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
- Hala Rajab | GHOST TRAIL
- Diamand Abou Abboud | ARZÉ
- Rakeen Saad | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
Best Cinematography
- Antoine Héberlé | AÏCHA
- Mostafa El Kashef | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE
- Thodoros Mihopoulos | TO A LAND UNKNOWN
- Jonathan Sela | THE STRANGERS’ CASE
- Wojciech Staron | RED PATH
Best Editing
- Heba Othman | THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US!
- Yasser Azmy | SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO
- Joana Scrinzi | THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE
- Ahmed Hafez | VOY! VOY! VOY!
- Noaz Deshe & Felipe Guerrero | XOFTEX
Best Music
- Kristian Eidnes Andersen & Flemming Nordkrog | EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
- Amin Bouhafa | AÏCHA
- Omar Fadel | NORAH
- Florencia Di Concilio | THE VANISHING
- Rodrigo D’Erasmo | SAMIA
Best Documentary
- NO OTHER LAND
- DIARIES FROM LEBANON
- A FIDAH FILM
- SUDAN, REMEMBER US
- FROM GROUND ZERO
Best Short Film
- AFTER THE SUN
- UPSHOT
- MANGO
- SHADOWS
- A SHORT FILM ABOUT KIDS
