Jordanian director Yahya Alabdallah’s film Baybona Fawq Sath El-Khazzan (Papillon on the Water Tank) won top prize, while Hala Khalil’s Shart El-Mahaba (A Condition for Love) won the Best Egyptian Film Project award at the Fourth Cairo Film Connection, one of the Cairo International Film Festival's (CIFF) parallel programmes, running between 18 and 20 November.
Alabdallah was awarded USD 10,000, presented by New Century production company to a film project in development or production.
Khalil received EGP 60,000, presented by Almasa for Art Production.
Other awards in the programme included a USD 5,000 cash prize presented by Global Film Initiative and the Color Correction Services Award for post-production, given by Aroma's Film Factory.
Finally, Paris' Initative Film presented a prize offering project development consulting to a film in production, while the Arab Cinema Center presented a prize inviting a film’s producer to attend the Producers Lab at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Egyptian director Amir Shenawy’s film 64 Kilo won the cash prize from Global Film Initiative, and Lebanese director Salah Nas’ film 5 Ayam Mohla (5 Days Grace) won the consulting services award from Initiative Film in Paris for his film's script development.
The Arab Cinema Center’s award went to producer Jana Wehbe for the film Beirut Terminus, directed by Elie Kamal. Beirut Terminus also scooped the Color Correction Services Award.
A participation prize from the Beirut Cinema Platfrom went to Tunisian Mehdi Barsaoui’s film Ibn (Son).
The CFC's call for projects was open to international features and documentaries that have a connection with the Arab world (Arab director, producer, co-producer, the main actors, filming location, or subject, etc.)
From a pool of 45 submissions, the CFC forum selected a total of 14 projects, 10 projects in the development or production phase, and four projects in post-production phase.
The films were juried by Egyptian director Amir Ramsis, Bianca Taal — programmer of Talent Development at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam — and Jad Abi Khalil from the Beirut Cinema Platform.
A representative of each selected film was invited to Cairo for the three days of CFC to meet and network with local and international industry professionals in all aspects of filmmaking.
Launched in 2013, the goal of CFC is to act as a co-production platform for filmmakers to meet and network with other entities that may be potential project partners or co-producers.
