28/11/2016 - Oliver Laxe's Mimosas was the big winner, while Licinio Azevedo was awarded Best Director for his The Train of Salt and Sugar

The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), whose current president is Magda Wassef, came to an end on 24 November, and Mimosas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Oliver Laxe
film profile] by Oliver Laxe was the big winner at the event. The co-production between Spain, Morocco and France won the Golden Pyramid for Best Film, in addition to the Award for Best Actor, which went to Shakib Ben Omar. Furthermore, a large proportion of the prizes handed out by the international jury went to European titles.

The Silver Pyramid for Best Director went to Licinio Azevedo for his The Train of Salt and Sugar [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a co-production between Portugal, Mozambique, France, South Africa and Brazil, and the Bronze Pyramid for Best First or Second Work by a Director was handed to Hungary's Attila Till for Kills on Wheels [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Best Screenplay ended up in the hands of Paolo Genovese for his Italian hit Perfect Strangers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and the last prize from the international jury served to recognise the Best Artistic Contribution of Peter Vaclav’s We Are Never Alone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petr Vaclav
film profile], from the Czech Republic.

The FIPRESCI Prize went to Georgian director Nino Basilia’s fiction feature debut, Anna's Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nino Basilia
film profile], which competed at the 17^th Arras Film Festival and also took home the main award from the Cinema Jove Festival in Valencia.

Also, the Critics' Week Awards were bestowed upon two European titles: the Shadi Abd El Salam Prize for Best Film went to the co-production between Latvia and Lithuania Exiled [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Davis Simanis, and the Fathy Farag Prize for Best Artistic Contribution went to Paweł Chorzępa’s cinematography in the Polish film Zud [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marta Minorowicz.

The Cinema of Tomorrow section for short films saw one Special Mention go to the Portuguese title Ascension by Pedro Peralta and another one to Croatia's Picnic by Jure Pavlović.

The Cairo International Film Festival is an annual gathering organised by the Ministry of Culture in Egypt. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year since then, except for 2011 and 2013, when it was cancelled due to budget limitations and political instability. At its 38th edition, it gathered together a wide range of international and Arab cinema, asserting itself as the only international competitive feature film festival recognised by the Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) in the Arab world and Africa, as well as the oldest in this category. 

Here is the full list of the winners of the CIFF: 

International Competition

Golden Pyramid for Best Film
Mimosas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Oliver Laxe
film profile] – Oliver Laxe (Spain/Morocco/France)

Silver Pyramid - Special Jury Prize For Best Director
Licinio Azevedo – The Train of Salt and Sugar [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Portugal/Mozambique/France/South Africa/Brazil)

Bronze Pyramid for Best First or Second Work by a Director
Kills on Wheels [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Attila Till (Hungary)

Best Actor
Shakib Ben Omar – Mimosas

Best Actress
Nahed El Sebai – A Day For Women (Egypt)

Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Best Screenplay
Paolo Genovese – Perfect Strangers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Italy)

Prize for Best Artistic Contribution
Peter Vaclav – We Are Never Alone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petr Vaclav
film profile] (Czech Republic)

FIPRESCI Prize
Anna's Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nino Basilia
film profile] – Nino Basilia (Georgia) 

Critics’ Week

Shadi Abd El Salam Prize for Best Film
Exiled [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Davis Simanis (Latvia/Lithuania)

Fathy Farag Prize for Best Artistic Contribution
Paweł Chorzępa – Zud [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Poland)

Cinema of Tomorrow

Youssef Chahin Best Short Film Award
Eden – Andrés Ramírez Pulido (Colombia)

Special Jury Award to Film
The Other Side of Doorman River – Se Woong Bae (South Korea)

Special Mentions
Ascension – Pedro Peralta (Portugal)
Picnic – Jure Pavlović (Croatia)
Rosinha – Gui Campos (Brazil)