European Film Promotion and the Arab Cinema Center have announced the final three nominees for the fifth edition of the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films, after the jury shortlisted 25 films from as many European countries.
Due to the postponement of this year’s edition of the Cairo Film Festival, which hosted the awards ceremony in previous years, the announcement of the winning film will take place during the sixth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival, which runs from 14-21 December.
The nominated films are Serbia’s “Lost Country” by Vladimir Perišić – winner of the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Actor Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival; Finland’s “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki – winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival; and Italy’s “Io Capitano” by Matteo Garrone – winner of four awards at the Venice Film Festival, including the Silver Lion for Best Director, the Pellicola d’Oro for Production Design and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Actor.
In a joint statement, El Gouna Film Festival executive director and co-founder Amr Mansi and film critic and El Gouna Festival programmer Andrew Mohsen said: “With ‘Fallen Leaves’, the multi-award winning master of Finnish cinema, Aki Kaurismäki, has chosen to write a story about the themes through which humanity could have a future: the longing for love, solidarity, hope and respect for other people, nature and everything living or dead.”
The tragicomedy is the fourth part of Kaurismäki’s working-class trilogy (‘Shadows in Paradise’, ‘Ariel’ and ‘The Match Factory Girl’). It tells the story of two lonely people who meet by chance on a Helsinki night and then lose contact with each other. They must try to find the first, only and ultimate love of their lives. “Fallen Leaves” has been nominated five times for the European Film Awards and is Finland’s entry for the 96th Academy Awards.
“Io Capitano” tells the story of the adventurous journey of Seydou and Moussa, two young men who leave Dakar to make their way to Europe. It is a contemporary odyssey through the dangers of the desert, the horrors of Libyan detention centres and the perils of the sea. The film has been nominated twice for the European Film Awards and is Italy’s entry for the 96th Academy Awards.
In “Lost Country”, Perišić paints a nuanced portrait of Serbian adolescents in Belgrade in the mid-90s, torn between family ties and a burgeoning political consciousness. Following rumours of possible electoral fraud, students take to the streets to demonstrate against the Milosević regime. While his friends support the demonstrators, 15-year-old Stefan is reluctant to take a political stand: His mother is the government’s press spokeswoman. His conflicting loyalties increasingly isolate him.
The Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films aims to promote European cinema in the Arab world and to bring outstanding European films to the attention of distributors and decision-makers in the Arab film industry.
The jury for the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films consisted of 85 critics from 15 Arab countries.
