Category: Women / Girls

Award Winners – 43rd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) : December 2021

Egyptian star Mohamed Mamdouh received the Best Actor Award for his role in Abu Saddam, which premiered at the festival.

The Best Actress Award went to Swamy Rotolo for her performance in A Chiara, directed by Jonas Carpignano (Italy – France), while The Golden Pyramid Award for Best Film went to The Hole In The Fence, by director Joaquin del Paso (Mexico, Poland), and produced by Fernanda de la Peza and Joaquin del Paso. Blind Spot, by director Lotfi Achour (Tunisia, France) won the Best Short Film Award.

creening over 111 films from 63 countries, the activities of the CIFF’s 43rd edition ran from 25 November to 5 December, including 34 world premieres, workshops, seminars, as well as ceremonies to honour a number of renowned filmmakers, including Egyptian actors Nelly, Karim Abdel-Aziz and Indian composer A.R. Rahman.

The CIFF awards went to:

International Competition awards

Henry Barakat Award for Best Artistic Contribution: Jose Angel Alayon for the cinematography of They Carry Death (Spain – Colombia)

Best Actress Award: Swamy Rotolo for her performance in A Chiara, directed by Jonas Carpignano (Italy – France)

Best Actor Award: Mohamed Mamdouh for his performance in Abu Saddam, directed by Nadine Khan (Egypt)

Naguib Mahfouz Award for Best Screenplay: Péter Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovský for 107 Mothers, directed by Péter Kerekes (Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Ukraine)

The Bronze Pyramid Award for Best First or Second Feature of a Director: Aloners, by director Hong Seong-Eun (South Korea)

The Silver Pyramid: Small Body, directed by Laura Samani (Italy, France)

Special Jury Award for Best Director: Laura Samani for Small Body (Italy, France, Slovenia)

The Golden Pyramid Award for Best Film: The Hole In The Fence, by director Joaquin del Paso (Mexico, Poland), produced by Fernanda de la Peza and Joaquin del Paso

International Short Film Competition awards

Youssef Chahine Award for Best Short Film: Blind Spot, by director Lotfi Achour (Tunisia, France)

The Special Jury Award: It’s Nothing Nagy, Just Hang Up!, by director Youhanna Nagy (Egypt)

 The Horizons of Arab Cinema Competition awards

Saad Eldin Wahba Award for Best Film: Awarded for directors Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige for their film Memory Box (Lebanon, France)

The Special Jury Award: Fiasco, by director Nicolas Khoury (Lebanon, the Netherlands)

Best Non-Fiction Film Award: From Cairo, by director Hala Galal (Egypt)

Best Acting Performance Award: Afef Ben Mahmoud for her performance in Streams, directed by Mehdi Hmili (Tunisia, Luxembourg, France)

Special Mention: A Second Life, by director Anis Lassoued (Tunisia)

International Critics’ Week Competition awards

Shadi Abdel-Salam Award for Best Film: Awarded to Ameer Fakher Eldin, director of The Stranger (Syria, Palestine, Germany)

The Special Jury Award: Wild Roots, by Hajni Kis (Hungary, Slovakia)

Special Mention: Actress Arcelia Ramírez for her performance in La Civil, by director Teodora Ana Mihai (Belgium, Romania, Mexico)

Best Arab Film Award: The Stranger, by Ameer Fakher Eldin (Syria, Palestine, Germany), produced by Tony Copti, Jiries Copti, and Dorothe Beinemeier

Special Mention: Fiasco, by Nicolas Khoury (Lebanon, Netherlands)

FIPRESCI Award: Tomorrow, directed by Dhafer L’Abidine (Tunisia)

Audience Award: Daughters of Abdel-Rahman’, directed by Zaid Abu Hamdan (Jordan)

www.ciff.org.eg

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg

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EGYPT / FRANCE / JORDAN / PALESTINE / SYRIA / TUNISIA

‘The Houses of Beirut’ — Preserving a City’s Architectural Heritage : Republished 2021

Nayla Audi. Daughters Yasmine Audi and Julie Audi.

Twenty-four years ago, Nayla Audi published her only book: “The Houses of Beirut.” It was created for children — an oversized book in the shape of a house — but at Dubai Design Week last month, adults, too, were opening the ‘doors’ of its cover to reveal the old-school watercolors (created by Audi’s friend, the painter Flavia Codsi) within. 

The book’s current revival was made possible by Audi’s two daughters, Yasmine and Julie, who published a new edition in the wake of the Beirut Port explosion last year, having found a copy of the book — a nostalgic memento of their childhood — that had survived the damage inflicted on their family home in the city’s Gemmayze neighborhood.

“It really affected us personally,” Julie, who lives in London, told Arab News. “We thought we needed to do everything we can to preserve this book — to re-edit and try our best for these houses to stay. We grew up taking all these things for granted. But now, with a bit of maturity and age, we also realize that it’s important for us to continue what our mom started.”

The original version of the book, published in both English and French, was, Julie said, popular among the Lebanese. 

The original version of the book, published in both English and French, was, Julie said, popular among the Lebanese. (Supplied) / arabnews.com

Many of those heritage houses, some of which were built over a century ago, were seriously affected by the explosion and the sisters have stipulated that all proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Beirut Heritage Initiative, launched in 2020 to restore badly damaged historical buildings.

For the reprinting of the hand-bound book, the sisters kept the story as it was, (although they printed the English version only) and even turned to the same family-run printing press — Anis, established in the late 1950s — that published it in the first place. Like many businesses in Beirut, Anis was practically destroyed, so getting things off the ground has been a struggle. 

Both Julie and Yasmine were born in the US, but feel a strong attachment to Lebanon. They flew to Beirut after the explosion and that experience reinforced their belief in the necessity of chronicling the city’s architectural traditions. 

source/content: arabnews.com

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Nayla, Yasmine and Julie Audi. (Supplied) / arabnews.com

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AMERICAN / LEBANESE

Mona Sewilam Wins COMESA Media Award in TV category : November 2021

Mona Sewilam. Journalist.

Mona Sewilam has the COMESA media award (TV category), on the sidelines of the 21st COMESA Heads of State and Government Summit held in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital.

The winning documentary is an abridged special edition of one of the episodes of her programme titled “ON Africa” produced and aired on ON Network TV.

Titled “COMESA: Between Equal Opportunities and African Integration” the film was presented, scripted and directed by Sewilam.

It focuses on the important role of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) whose 21 member states have a population of 583 million which is about half of Africa’s population, and with a gross domestic product of $805 billion, and a global export/import trade in goods worth $324 billion. This renders COMESA the largest market for trade and investment in Africa.

The documentary which was mostly filmed in Zambia where the COMESA secretariat is based also highlights Egypt’s efforts to boost intra-African trade and achieve African integration. The documentary covered the significance of the Cairo-Cape Town Road that runs through Zambia. It filmed the successful Zambia-Egypt Joint Farm Venture located in Zambia, which will benefit from the road and COMESA’s incentives on exporting its products to COMESA member states like Egypt.

Sewilam previously won the COMESA award on the sidelines of the 20th COMESA Summit in the Zambian capital Lusaka.

source/content : english.ahram.org.eg

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Mona Sewilam wins the COMESA media award in TV category

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EGYPT

British-Somali Actress Kosar Ali hits British Fashion Awards 2021 red carpet. BAFTA Nominated Star .

Kosar Ali. Actress.

  • Nominated ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category – British Academy and Film Awards
  • Winner 2 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), February 2021

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Actress Kosar Ali wearing Richard Quinn at the 2021 British Fashion Awards. Getty images / pix; arabnews.com

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BRITISH / SOMALI

Saudi Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al-Mogrin, Chair of the UNESCO Executive Board Program and External Relations Commission

Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al-Mogrin

Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al-Mogrin was recently elected to chair the UNESCO Executive Board Program and External Relations Commission for two years.


During the 213th session of the UNESCO executive board in Paris, the executive council named Princess Haifa, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to UNESCO, for the position.

Princess Haifa received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Riyadh-based King Saud University in 2000 and a master’s degree in science in economics with reference to the Middle East from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in 2007.

source/content: arabnews.com

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Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al-Mogrin. (SPA) / pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Amal Amjahid Belgian-Moroccan Wins her 9th, Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Title : November 13th, 2021

Amal Amjahid. Athlete. Martial Arts. Jiu Jitsu Sports. Represents Belgium.

Belgian-Moroccan Jiu-Jitsu fighter Amal Amjahid , won on November 13 her 9th world champion title after defeating the French fighter Laurence Cousin Fouillat in the 2021 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship finale.

The 26-year-old secured the title in the “below 57 kilos” category with a victory by advantage following a score of 2-2.

Amal Amjahid began Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 7 in Brussels. From 2013 to 2019, she won many world titles and medals in various competitions such as the World Games, the Grand Slam Tokyo, and the European Jiu-Jitsu Championship

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com

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pix: moroccoworldnews.com

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BELGIAN / MOROCCAN

Aziza Chaouni Awarded Bronze for Sustainable Project at 6th Int’l Holcim Awards,Venice : November 13th, 2021

Aziza Chaouni. Architect. Educationist. Teacher.

The Fez-born architect was honored for her project on addressing climate change-induced tribal displacement.

The Moroccan architect earned both the Global Holcim Awards Bronze prize and the Acknowledgement Prize for her project “Cultural Interlude.” The project draws a self-sustaining music school and ecotourism center that aims to preserve the tribal cultural heritage in an oasis located in the town of M’Hamid El Ghizlane, in Zagora province. 

Chaouni is also the co-founder of the Bureau of Ecological Architecture and Systems of Tomorrow (EAST) with Takako Tajima, a renowned landscape architect based in Southern California. Tajima has won many prizes, including The Architectural League Prize from the Architecture League of New York in 2009.

www.azizachaouniprojects.com

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com

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Aziza Chaouni awarded at 6th International Holcim Awards / pix: moroccoworldnews.com

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CANADA / MOROCCO

‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’: A Somali Love Story Wins Africa’s Top Film Prize : October 24th, 2021

Khadar Ayderus Ahamed. Writer. Film Director.

Movie by Finnish-Somali writer-director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed won the Stallion of Yennenga grand prize at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou.

A little more than one month after it won the Amplify Voices Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Gravedigger’s Wife  has scooped Africa’s top film prize.

The drama, by Finnish-Somali writer-director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, won the prestigious Stallion of Yennenga Grand Prize for Best Film at the Pan African Film Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Sunday.

Filmed in Somali in Djibouti, the tenderly moving story of love and devotion follows Guled (Omar Abdi), a man who makes a precarious living from loss.

The film took home the 20 million franc ($35,714) CFA prize money and the golden stallion statue, beating 16 other African films to the top prize. The films in competition were made by directors from 15 different African countries.

It was also Somalia’s first official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2021 Academy Awards, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July.

source/content: thenationalnews.com

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Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, left, Yasmin Warsame, centre, and Omar Abdi attend ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’ photocall during the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. / AFP / thenationalnews.com

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FINLAND / SOMALIA

Amira Tahri: 12-Year Old Dutch-Moroccan Kickboxer Retains World Champion Title for 5th Time : November 2021

Amira Tahri (aka) Wonderkid, The Wonder Girl. Athlete. Kickboxer.

The kickboxing star won the title after she defeated her French rival, Shaina Moniek in the Abu Dhabi World Cup final.

Amira Tahri also made international headlines in 2019, when she was only 9 years old.

During the 2019 competition, Tahri defeated Moneik, the same opponent she faced during Friday’s fight, to secure her world championship for the fourth time.

The Dutch-Moroccan kickboxing star also shared a photo of her wearing a COVID-19 mask, with Morocco’s flag.

source/content: moroccoworldnews.com

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Amira Tahri 12-Year Old Dutch-Moroccan Kickboxer Becomes World Champion for 5th Time. Photo: Amira Tahri Instagram / pix: moroccoworldnews.com

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DUTCH (NETHERLANDS) / MOROCCO

UAE Retains Jiu-Jitsu World Championship Title. Sets a New National Record of 53 Medals Tally: November 11th, 2021

The UAE national Jiu-Jitsu team came through an intense final day on the mats to retain their Ju-Jitsu World Championship title at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City.

Setting a new National Record of 53 medals.

Leading the medal table heading into final day, the country’s elite adult athletes grabbed another four medals, two silvers and two bronze, to take their medal tally to 53 across five days of intense competition in the men and women Under-16, Under-18, Under-21 and Adult divisions.

It was a fine return for the strong team, who did the host nation proud and set a new national record, beating the 52 medals in the previous edition, in front of a vociferous crowd at the home of jiu-jitsu. The 53 medal tally put the UAE Falcons on top of the world ahead of RJF in second and Kazakhstan in third place.

The first two medals of the day came from Wadima Al Yafei, 45 kg and Saif Al Hemani, 85 kg, clinching the bronze. Cheered on by a knowledgeable crowd, Hamdah Al Shkeili produced a fine performance to win silver in the women’s Adult 45kg event. The UAE’s 53rd and final medal of the championship came when jiu-jitsu legend Faisal Al Ketbi took silver in the men’s 85kg final, narrowly losing out on gold to Australia’s William Diaz.

The record-breaking performance enhanced the UAE’s reputation as a jiu-jitsu nation and provided the country’s leading athletes with the perfect preparation heading into the 13th Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, the largest and most prestigious championship on the global jiu-jitsu calendar, which runs from 14-19 November, at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena.

“As the defending champions the pressure was on our athletes to perform this week and match the performance of previous years. They showed great heart, desire and commitment to not only match previous editions but set a record for the number of medals,” said Fahad Ali Al Shamsi, General Secretary of UAEJJF.”

Al Shkeili, who added a silver in the Adult 45kg to the gold medal she won in the Under-21 45kg category, the only UAE athlete to win two medals this week, said: “I couldn’t have wished for this. It was great experience just representing the UAE on this stage. To win a gold and a silver really is a dream come true.

The UAE national team ended the championship with 18 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze medals. RJF in second, collected 15 gold, 15 silver and 14 bronze, with third-placed Kazakhstan taking 8 gold, 6 silver and 23 bronze.

The UAE will host the 27th Ju-Jitsu World Championship in 2022.

source/content: wam.ae

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pix: wam.ae

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)