The Blue Caftan by Moroccan director and Cannes 2023 Jury member Maryam Touzani has topped the nominations in the seventh edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The portrait of marriage and stifled sexuality, starring Saleh Bakri and Lubna Azabal has been nominated in seven categories including best film, actor, actress, director, screenplay, cinematography and music.
The film world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2022 and went on to be Morocco’s best international film submission for the 2023 Academy Awards making it as far as the first long list.
The Critics Awards for Arab Films are overseen by the Arab Cinema Centre and judged by 193 critics from 72 countries. The winners will be announced at a ceremony during Cannes.
To qualify for consideration, films need to have premiered at international film festivals outside of the Arab world in 2022; involve at least one Arab world production company, and be feature-length.
Other films in the running include Tunisian director Erige Sehiri’s Under The Fig Trees, about youngsters spending working on the fig harvest over the summer, U.S. filmmaker Lotfy Nathan’s Arab Spring drama Harka, Moroccan-French director Yasmine Benkiran’s female-driven road movie Queens, and Iraq coming of age tale Hanging Gardens by Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji.
“The seventh Critics Awards for Arab Films celebrates a wide range of Arab film productions from Tunisia, Morocco, and Lebanon in 2022. These films earned a lot of positive feedback at various global film festivals and events over the past year,” said award Manager Deborah Young.
ACC co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab noted that the awards had expanded this year as part of an ongoing strategy to grow the initiative.
“This year, we have expanded the jury and introduced three new award categories to recognize and shine a light on even more film industry professionals. Each year, we’d like to see the award grow bigger and bigger,” they said.
The 2023 Nomination List
Best Film
The Blue Caftan (Mor)
Dir. Maryam Touzani
Hanging Gardens (Iraq)
Dir. Ahmed Yassin Aldaradji (Iraq)
Alam (Pal)
Dir. Firas Khoury
Best Actor
Adam Bessa, Harka (Tun)
Saleh Bakri, The Blue Caftan (Pal)
Hussain Mohammad Jaleel, Hanging Gardens (Iraq)
Best Actress
Lubna Azabal, The Blue Caftan (Mor)
Clara Couture, Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous (Ethiopia)
Fatma Oussaifi, Ashkal (Tun)
Best Director
Youssef Chebbi, Ashka (Tun)
Maryam Touzani, The Blue Caftan (Mor)
Erige Sehiri, Under The Fig Trees, (Tun)
Best Screenplay
Erige Sehiri, Under The Fig Trees (Tun)
Maryam Touzani-Nabil Ayouch, The Blue Caftan (Mor)
Soudade Kaadan, Nezouah (Syria)
Best Cinematography
Frida Marzouk, Under The Fig Trees (Tun)
Pierre Aïm, Queens (Fr)
Virginie Surdej, The Blue Caftan (Pol)
Best Editing
Julie Léna, Queens (Fr)
Valentin Féron, Ashkal (Fr)
Sophie Corra, Thomas Niles, Harka (US, Can)
Best Music
Eli Keszler, Harka (US)
Amin Bouhafa, Under The Fig trees, (Tun)
Kristian Eidnes Andersen, The Blue Caftan (Den)
Best Documentary
Foragers, Jumana Manna (Pal)
Sirens, Rita Baghdad (Leb)
My Lost Country, Ishtar Yasin Gutierrez (Iraq)
