Amr Salama’s "La Moakhza" (Excuse My French) won the most awards at Egypt’s National Film Festival, which concluded on Friday.
The movie was awarded LE300,000 and won awards for production, best script, best music and best sound effects.
"La Moakhza" tells the story of a student who hides his Christian identity from his teachers and Muslim classmates.
Karim Abdel-Aziz was given the best actor award for his performance in Ahmed Mourad’s "El Feel El Azrak" (The Blue Eelephant). Nelly Karim won the best actress award for her work in the same film, which also received the second best production award.
Sherif Ramzy won the Second Best Actor award for his role in "Betawqeet Al-Qahera" (Cairo Local Time), which was also given the third best production award.
Ahmed al-Guindy’s comedy "Al-Harb Al-Alamiya Altalta" (World War III), an Egyptian imitation of "Night at the Museum", was awarded the best make-up award.
The closing ceremony was attended by Culture Minister Helmy al-Namnam.
The festival’s chief arbitrator, author Youssef al-Qaeed, decried what he described as “grave shortfalls” in this year’s festival. He said the judges panel saw only eight out of 14 movies scheduled to compete for long narratives as many movies failed to finish filming and production before the competition.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
