16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Two Egyptian films awarded at Casablanca Arab Film Festival
Two Egyptian films, The Brink of Dreams and Love Bites, won awards at the sixth edition of the Casablanca Arab Film Festival (13-20 June).
Nada Riyadh and Ayman El-Amir directed The Brink of Dreams, which received the Jury Prize in the Feature Film Competition.
Love Bites, written and directed by Mahmoud Zain, received a Special Mention in the Short Film Competition.
The Brink of Dreams follows the story of an all-female Coptic group that formed a theatre troupe to perform plays inspired by Upper Egyptian folklore in their small village.
The troupe aims to raise awareness about important issues, like early marriage, domestic violence, and girls' education.
The film stars Majda Masoud, Haidi Sameh, Monika Youssef, Marina Samir, Myriam Nassar, Lydia Haroun, and Youstina Samir.
In 2024, The Brink of Dreams won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
The film garnered numerous other awards from international festivals, the latest being Best Feature at the 15th edition of Malmö Arab Film Festival (29 April - 5 May).
Love Bites is a 12-minute drama starring Sedky Sakhr, Sohila Alanwar, Nadia Hassan, and Mahmoud Yehia.
The film tells the story of Hayam, an unmarried 20-year-old girl, who passes away. Her brothers, Zaher and Murad, discover love bites on her neck and chest just before the body washing.
This fact hinders the completion of the body washing practice for fear of a scandal.
Love Bites premiered at the Aswan International Women's Film Festival (2-7 May 2025), receiving a Special Mention in the Short Film Competition.
The film was then screened at the Rotterdam Arab Film Festival (28 May–1 June).
This is not the first time Egyptian films have garnered recognition at the Casablanca Arab Film Festival.
In 2024, the film Maqsoom was awarded the Best Main Actress prize at the Feature Film Competition, and I Promise You Paradise won the Best Short Film Award at the festival's fifth edition.
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