My Father’s Scent triumphs at the 25th Cinemamed Festival
- Egyptian director Mohamed Siam’s film scoops both the Grand Prize and the Cineuropa Prize, while DJ Ahmet bags the RêVolution Award
The 25th edition of Cinemamed – the Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival wrapped on Friday 5 December with an awards ceremony dominated by Mohamed Siam’s My Father’s Scent. Discovered in the Warsaw Festival’s 1-2 Competition, the film takes us into a deeply intense night which sees a veil lifted on long-concealed family secrets. A father and son with a broken bond bump into one another just as the former is leaving hospital. It’s a night to get to know one another and to make peace with a painful past, but it’s also a night for goodbyes. The father is played by Kamel El Basha, awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor in Venice 2017 via The Insult [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ziad Doueiri
film profile], while young actor Ahmed Malek - seen in the Boiling Point [+see also:
series review
series profile] series - takes on the son. Co-produced by Egypt, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, this is the first fiction feature by Mohamed Siam, who previously turned heads with his documentary Amal [+see also:
trailer
film profile], released in 2017. The present movie is now the proud recipient of Cinemamed’s Grand Jury Prize, as decided upon by Ely Dagher, Myriem Akheddiou, Pierre Dumoulin and Samira El Mouzghibati, who praised this "powerful film where the intimate touches upon the universal". The movie also walked away with the Cineuropa Prize, whose jury revealed itself to have been "especially struck by the film’s delicacy and its accuracy in depicting the complexity of the intimate and universal father-son relationship, whilst also highlighting the difficulties Egyptian youngsters are facing today".
The festival jury also singled out Pietro Marcello’s Italian movie Duse [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pietro Marcello
film profile], which was discovered in September’s Venice Film Festival, describing it as "a period drama of blistering relevance". Both the Critics’ Prize and the Les Grenades Prize were won by Promised Sky [+see also:
film review
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile], the second fiction feature by Erige Sehiri (Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile]) which was presented in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section back in May, and another trophy awarded within the Official Competition - the Regard Citoyen Prize - went to Behind the Palm Trees [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Meryem Benm’Barek, who was unearthed in 2018 via Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Meryem Benm'Barek
film profile], which bagged Best Screenplay also in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section.
A second competition graced the Cinemamed agenda, entitled RêVolution, which shines a light on the vigour of youth. The Grand Prize in this particular line-up went to DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] by Georgi M Unkovski, who turned heads last winter in Sundance and who scooped the Cineuropa Prize in Sarajevo back in the summer. The film tells the story of a young shepherd who stumbles across a night-time rave and subsequently sees a new world opening up to him. Last but not least, the Youth Jury crowned Giulio Bertelli’s AGON [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giulio Bertelli
film profile] their champion, a movie discovered in Venice’s Critics’ Week and casting an ultra-modern eye over three high-level sportspeople specialising in combat sports.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Official Competition
Grand Prize
My Father’s Scent - Mohamed Siam (Egypt/Norway/Sweden/Switzerland/France/Saudi Arabia/ Qatar)
Special Jury Prize
Duse [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pietro Marcello
film profile] - Pietro Marcello (Italy/France)
RêVolution Competition
RêVolution Prize
DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] - Georgi M Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia)
Youth Jury Prize
AGON [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giulio Bertelli
film profile] - Giulio Bertelli (Italy/USA/France)
Mention
Bouchra [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Oriane Barki & Meriem Bennani (Italy/Morocco/USA)
Other awards
Cineuropa Prize
My Father’s Scent - Mohamed Siam
Critics’ Prize
Promised Sky [+see also:
film review
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile] - Erige Sehiri (France/Tunisia/Qatar)
Regard Citoyen Prize
Behind the Palm Trees [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Meryem Benm’Barek (Morocco/France/Belgium)
Les Grenades Prize
Promised Sky - Erige Sehiri
Mention
Bearcave [+see also:
film review
interview: Stergios Dinopoulos, Krysia…
film profile] - Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna B. Papadakis (Greece)
Europe Olive Branch Film Award
Life After Siham - Namir Abdel Messeeh (Egypt/France)
Audience Award
My Father and Qaddafi - Jihan (Libya/USA)
(Translated from French)
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