Egypt, Germany Bag Most Awards at Inaugural Hurghada Youth Film Festival

Winners at the festival pose with their awards. (Hurghada Youth Film Festival)
Winners at the festival pose with their awards. (Hurghada Youth Film Festival)
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Egypt, Germany Bag Most Awards at Inaugural Hurghada Youth Film Festival

Winners at the festival pose with their awards. (Hurghada Youth Film Festival)
Winners at the festival pose with their awards. (Hurghada Youth Film Festival)

Egypt and Germany have bagged most of the awards at the inaugural Hurghada Youth Film Festival, which concluded on Monday in a ceremony that was attended by a number of Arabic and Egyptian artists, including Hani Salama, Sulaf Fawakherji, and filmmaker Mohammed Abdelaziz.

German film “Night Guard” won the Golden Award for Best Feature Film, while the Silver Award for Best Feature Film went to French film “Sons of Ramses”, which will represent France in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars 2024. Egyptian film “The Abbasid History” won the Bronze Award for Best Feature Film, and Croatian filmmaker Neven Hitrec won the Best Director Award for his film “The Diary of Paulina”.

In the short film category, Egyptian film “Letter from Unknown” won the Golden award, Syrian film “Photograph” won the silver award, while the Portuguese film “Anna Morphos” won the bronze award.

The concluding ceremony celebrated the 93rd National Day of Saudi Arabia and honored the Saudi delegation that included novelist Abeer Samkari and producer Abdullah Badib.

Festival President, scriptwriter Mohamed el Bassosy said he was delighted with the success the Hurghada Youth Film Festival. “Everything I dreamed of for the first edition has been accomplished, and I hope for more in the forthcoming edition. A few months ago, no one had imagined a youth film festival in Hurghada, but today, we did it,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He revealed that preparations are underway for the 2024 edition, saying the organizers were seeking broader participation and increasing the number of guests.

Bassosy thanked actor Hussein Fahmi, president of the Cairo International Film Festival, for signing a collaboration protocol with the Hurghada Youth Film Festival.

“It was an amazing surprise, and we must thank the ministry of culture for signing an agreement with an emerging festival. According to the protocol, we will be sending a number of the Hurghada festival young participants to train at the Cairo Cinema Center, while the Cairo Festival will provide us with prominent guests and foreign films,” he said.



Sunday's Golden Globes to Launch Hollywood's Awards Festivities

FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
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Sunday's Golden Globes to Launch Hollywood's Awards Festivities

FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Event signage appears above the red carpet at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Hollywood will kick off its 2025 awards festivities on Sunday at the annual Golden Globes ceremony where films such as "Wicked,The Brutalist" and "Emilia Perez" compete for trophies and attention ahead of the Oscars.
Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Angelina Jolie are among the stars in the running for acting honors at the red-carpet ceremony that will be hosted for the first time by comedian Nikki Glaser. The show will be broadcast live on CBS and stream on Paramount+, Reuters reported.
Spanish-language musical "Emilia Perez" and post-World War Two epic "The Brutalist" lead the night's movie nominees.
"The Brutalist" stars Adrien Brody as a Holocaust survivor who flees to the United States to chase the American dream. The 3-1/2 hour tale is considered a frontrunner for the night's top prize, best film drama.
Competitors include "Conclave," about the selection of a pope, and two movies starring Chalamet - Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" and sci-fi epic "Dune - Part II."
Unlike the Oscars, musical and comedy films compete in a separate category at the Globes. Nominees in that field include box office smash "Wicked" and dark romantic comedy "Anora."
Winning a Globe can help films in the run-up to the Academy Awards in March. If a movie or actor takes home a Globe, "it increases the likelihood a member of the film academy will check out that project," said Scott Feinberg, executive editor for awards at The Hollywood Reporter.
Feinberg predicted "The Brutalist" or "Conclave" would earn the drama prize at the Globes. The musical or comedy category is harder to gauge, he said, because the nominees are so different from one another.
"Emilia Perez," a musical thriller, tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who transitions from a man to a woman. "Wicked," a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," was adapted from a popular Broadway stage show.
"Anora," about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, is more of a traditional comedy while "The Substance" starring Demi Moore as a fading celebrity seeking a fountain of youth, is essentially a horror movie, Feinberg said.
"That (category) is just all over the place," Feinberg said.
Winners of the Globes are chosen by 334 entertainment journalists from 85 countries, compared with roughly 9,000 voters who select the Academy Awards. The Globes voting body was expanded in recent years and organizers instituted reforms after being criticized for ethical lapses and a lack of diversity.
In TV categories, restaurant tale "The Bear" leads the Globes nominees, followed by mystery comedy "Only Murders in the Building" and historical epic "Shogun."