07/10/2025 - Eva Libertad's Deaf, Georgi M Unkovski's DJ Ahmet and Ameer Fakher Eldin's Yunan vie for the award given out by a jury of 100 film critics from 16 Arabic-speaking countries

Eva Libertad's Deaf, Georgi M Unkovski's DJ Ahmet and Ameer Fakher Eldin's Yunan

A jury of 100 film critics from 16 Arabic-speaking countries have selected three finalists from among 20 entries for this year‘s Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films: Deaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Libertad
film profile] by Eva Libertad (Spain), DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] by Georgi M Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia) and Yunan [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Ameer Fakher Eldin (Germany/Canada/Italy/Palestine/Qatar/Jordan/Saudi Arabia). The award is jointly presented by European Film Promotion (EFP) and the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), and hosted by El Gouna Film Festival. 

Eva Libertad’s debut feature, Deaf, is a deeply personal adaptation of her short film by the same name, starring her real-life sister, Miriam Garlo, who is deaf. The film explores the intimate and complex relationship between a deaf woman and her hearing partner as they prepare to have a child. Deaf premiered in the Panorama section at this year’s Berlinale, where it won both the Audience Award and the Arthouse Cinema Award. At the 28th Málaga Film Festival, it received six awards, including Best Film, Best Actress and Best Actor. The film also won the Latin American Critics Award for European Films at FICG Guadalajara (see the news). Deaf is a Spanish production by Distinto Films, Nexus CreaFilms and A Contracorriente Films, represented by Madrid-based world sales company Latido Films.

Georgi M Unkovski’s debut feature, DJ Ahmet, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and received a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision. Set in a remote village in North Macedonia, the film tells the story of 15-year-old Ahmet, a quiet shepherd boy whose discovery of electronic music awakens a desire for freedom and self-expression. A co-production between North Macedonia's Cinema Futura and Sektor Film, the Czech Republic's Alter Vision and Analog Vision, Serbia's Backroom Production and Baš Čelik, and Croatia's 365 Films, DJ Ahmet is handled internationally by Films Boutique.

Ameer Fakher Eldin’s second feature, Yunan, is a contemplative and poetic exploration of identity, exile and the search for meaning in unfamiliar landscapes. The film follows an Arab man who arrives on a remote island in the North Sea intending to end his life. Instead, he is confronted by its conservative, marginalised German community and the overwhelming force of nature, encounters that unsettle his resolve and gradually reshape his perspective. The film was part of this year’s Berlinale Competition and was awarded the Golden Firebird Award for Best Actor (Georges Khabbaz) and Best Actress (Hanna Schygulla) at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Yunan was produced by Red Balloon Film (Germany) together with Microclimat Film (Canada) and Intramovies (Italy), and co-produced by Palestine's Fresco Films, Qatar's Metafora Productions and Jordan's Tabi360. Its world sales are handled by Intramovies, and Mad Solutions is handling MENA sales.

The 100 most prominent and influential Arab film critics have shortlisted the three films and will announce the winner during the El Gouna Film Festival (16-24 October). The Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films were launched in 2019 by EFP and the ACC, with support from the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme. Previous winners include Teona Strugar Mitevska's God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Labina Mitevska
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile] (2019), Christian Petzold's Undine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile] (2020), Peter Kerekes' 107 Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Kerekes
film profile] (2021), Jerzy Skolimowski's EO [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2022), Aki Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2023) and Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Mohammad Rasoulof
film profile] (2024).