After 11 days of the best of Arab Cinema, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the 28th Arab Film Festival (AFF2024).
Our festival jury, led by Jury Chair Cherien Dabis, submitted their votes – and so did you, for the Audience Award. It was not easy to choose: this year’s festival included 40+ handpicked films from 26 countries (alongside mixers, webinars, and special programs).
Ready to discover who won? Drum roll please…
Best Documentary Short – AFF2024
Where the Wind Blows
Directed by Hana Elias
Produced by Asmahan Bkerat, Anakha Arikara
Where the Wind Blows made its World Premiere at the 28th Arab Film Festival.
You can also watch our Talkback with Filmmaker Hana Elias on our YouTube channel.
After building a life in New York City, Nassib returns to his hometown of Shefa-’Amr in Palestine for the first time in 50 years to revive an ancestral garden. Filmmaker Hana Elias captures her whole family’s search for belonging as she intimately films her father Nassib planting, tending, and spending time in the garden over the course of five years.
About the Filmmaker:
Hana is a Palestinian-American documentary filmmaker and journalist. Her work explores interrelationships between land, labor, and identity in the Middle East and the United States. Hana is currently a fellow at Democracy now, and was recently a journalist in Jordan and Palestine. As an associate producer, she has worked on two documentary series with Left/Right TV, co-produced with CNN and the New York Times. Hana is a graduate of the Columbia journalism school, and was selected as a Pulitzer Center campus consortium fellow for her short documentary ‘Holding Fire.’
Best Narrative Short – AFF2024
A Short Film About Kids
Written and directed by Ibrahim Handal
Produced by Ibrahim Handal, Wisam Al Jafari
Four kids from the refugee camp in Bethlehem decide to visit the sea for the first time in their life.
About the Filmmaker:
Ibrahim Handal is a cinematographer and filmmaker whom graduated in Cinematography in 2019 from Dar Al-Kalima University. He worked as a director of photography on several short films: Bethlehem 2001 (2020, Officially selected in Locarno, Clermont Ferrand, Busan and many others) AMBIENCE by Wissam Al Jafari (2019, Cannes Cinéfondation winner), SAWSAN (2019), BETWEEN YOU AND ME (2020). He directed three short films: COLD (2017, 5 ‘, experimental), HIM AND I (2019, 13’, fiction) and BETHLEHEM 2001 (2020).He also worked on several feature film productions in Palestine in the camera and lighting departments. Ibrahim is in development of his first feature film.
Best Debut Feature – AFF2024
Arzé
Directed by Mira Shaib
Produced by Zina Badran, Louay Khraish, Faissal Sam Shaib
Arzé is Lebanon’s Submission to the 97th Academy Awards.
Arzé is a struggling single mother living in Beirut with her agoraphobic older sister and teenage son, Kinan. Supporting the family by making homemade pies delivered on foot by her son, Arzé knows that the business can only sustain them for so long. In a move of desperation, she steals her sister’s cherished bracelet to pawn for the down payment on a delivery scooter. But disaster strikes when the scooter is stolen, jeopardizing her only way to provide for her family. Up against a ticking clock to either find the scooter or a way to pay for it in full, Arzé and Kinan embark on a wild journey through the turbulent but vibrant, multiethnic Levantine capital in pursuit of the pilfered moped.
About the Filmmaker:
Mira Shaib is a Lebanese director of the feature film, Arzé which premiered at Tribeca Festival in 2024. She is an alumnus of prestigious film development labs and residencies, including Robert Bosch Stiftung, where she attended the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Film Independent’s Global Media Makers LA Residency, the Red Sea Lodge, and the Torino Film Lab. Her first feature film was among the first recipients of the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation Production Fund. Mira Shaib earned a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Television from the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut and a Master of Fine Arts in Cinematic Arts from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal. Mira is the co-founder of Cinema For All, an arts initiative with a mission to make cinema accessible in rural Lebanon.
Ruya (Visionary) Award – AFF2024
From Ground Zero
Directed by Wissam Moussa, Nidal Damo, Alaa Ayoub, Karim Satoum, Bashar Al Babisi, Khamis Masharawi, Neda’a Abu Hassnah, Tamer Nijim, Ahmed Al Danaf, Rima Mahmoud, Muhammad Al Sharif, Basil El Maqousi, Mustafa Al Nabih, Rabab Khamis, Mustafa Kulab, Alaa Damo, Hana Eleiwa, Mahdi Kreirah, Aws Al Banna, Islam Al Zeriei, Etimad Washah, Ahmad Hassunah
Produced by Rashid Masharawi
From Ground Zero is Palestine’s submission to the 97th Academy Awards.
From Ground Zero is a compelling project that brings together 22 short films created by talented filmmakers from Gaza. Launched by Rashid Masharawi, a notable Palestinian filmmaker, the initiative emerged amid the backdrop of conflict, aiming to provide a platform for young artists to express themselves through their craft. Each film, ranging from 3 to 7 minutes, presents a unique perspective on the current reality in Gaza. The project captures the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave, including the challenges, tragedies, and moments of resilience faced by its people. With a mix of genres such as fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation, and experimental cinema, From Ground Zero showcases a rich tapestry of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy, and hope inherent in Gazan life.
You can read more about this film on our blog.
Best Documentary Feature – AFF2024
Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano
Written and Directed by Cyril Aris
Produced by Myriam Sassine, Katharina Weser
You can also watch our Talkback with Filmmaker Cyril Aris on our YouTube channel.
On August 4th, 2020, the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut leaves a large part of the Lebanese capital in ruins. In the midst of the chaos, a troubled film crew face an overwhelming decision: to continue the production of their movie or abandon it? As they face the aftermath of the catastrophe, they are torn between their firm belief in the transformative power of cinema and a deep sense of cynicism about its ability to effect change in a nation plagued by economic turmoil and societal collapse. Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano chronicles their struggles and highlights the crew’s resilience as they strive to find meaning and purpose in their work amidst the devastation.
About the Filmmaker:
Cyril Aris is a Lebanese director, screenwriter, and editor based in Beirut. Armed with an MFA from Columbia University, he is also a member of the AMPAS. His short film THE PRESIDENT’S VISIT premiered at Toronto in 2017 and screened over 80+ festivals. Venturing into the world of documentaries, Aris unveiled his debut feature documentary THE SWING in 2018, which premiered at Karlovy Vary. Cyril Aris is currently developing his feature IT’S A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD and completed his second feature documentary DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO which premiered at Karlovy Vary and won Special Jury Mention. As an editor, he worked on DEATH OF NINTENDO (Berlinale 2020) and COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON (Venise 2021).
Best Narrative Feature – AFF2024
Goodbye Julia
Written and Directed by Mohamed Kordofani
Produced by Amjad Abu Alala, Mohamed Al Omda
Goodbye Julia was Sudan’s submission to the 96th Academy Awards.
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Freedom Prize – Cannes Film Festival 2023
Winner of the Cinema for Humanity Prize – El Gouna Film Festival 2023
Wracked by guilt after covering up a murder, Mona — a northern Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage — tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s southern Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home. Unable to confess her transgressions to Julia, Mona decides to leave the past behind and adjust to a new status quo, unaware that the country’s turmoil may find its way into her home and put her face to face with her sins.
About the Filmmaker:
Mohamed Kordofani is a Sudanese aircraft engineer turned filmmaker. He made a number of short films, including Nyerkuk, which won the Black Elephant Award for best Sudanese Film and the NAAS Award for best Arab film at Carthage Film Festival in 2017. He is the Co-founder of Klozium Studios; a production house based in Khartoum that provides video production services and supports independent filmmakers and artists. In 2023 Kordofani’s debut feature film Goodbye Julia premiered in Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Prix de la Liberté and also celebrated for being the first-ever Sudanese film to be officially featured in the festival.
Audience Award – AFF2024
To a Land Unknown
Directed by Mahdi Fleifel
Produced by Mahdi Fleifel, Layla Meijman, Maarten van der Ven, Geoff Arbourne
Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
About the Filmmaker:
Mahdi Fleifel is a Palestinian-Danish director who graduated from NFTS in the UK. In 2012, his first feature-length documentary A World Not Ours premiered at TIFF and gathered around thirty awards (Berlinale, CPH:DOX, Yamagata, DOC:NYC). He took part in the Cinéfondation in 2013, and subsequently directed several short films: A Man Returned (Silver Bear 2016 EFA nomination), A Drowning Man (Cannes, Bafta nominated), I Signed The Petition (IDFA award and EFA nomination).
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