Updated 22 May 2023

Six winners at the Critics Awards for Arab Films in Cannes

Six winners at the Critics Awards for Arab Films in Cannes

The Arab Cinema Center announced the winners of the seventh Critics Awards for Arab Films on the sidelines of the 76th Cannes Film festival in France. Here are six of the awardees.  

  • Best film

    Iraqi film “Hanging Gardens” by debut director Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji follows the life of a 12-year-old boy living as a rubbish picker in the dumps of Baghdad.  

  • Best actor

    French Tunisian actor Adam Bessa, who played soldier Yaz Kahn in Chris Hemsworth-starring “Extraction,” won Best Actor for his role in “Harka.”  

  • Best actress

    Lubna Azabal, a Belgian actress of Moroccan Spanish descent, won Best Actress for her role as Mina in filmmaker Maryam Touzani’s “The Blue Caftan.”  

  • Best director

    Tunisian filmmaker Youssef Chebbi won the award for his film “Ashkal,” which centers on the investigation into the killing of a caretaker on a construction site in Carthage. 

  • Best screenplay

    Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani and French Moroccan writer and director Nabil Ayouch took home the honor for their work on Moroccan film “The Blue Caftan.”  

  • Best cinematography

    Taking another win for Morocco’s “The Blue Caftan” was Polish cinematographer Virginie Surdej, known for other works like “Syria” and “Casablanca Beats.”