The joint initiative between European Film Promotion and the Arab Cinema Center, aiming to promote European cinema to the Arab world, handed out its award at the Cairo Film Festival

107 Mothers by Peter Kerekes

The Slovak-Czech-Ukrainian co-production 107 Mothers [+see also:
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Ola Al-Sheikh, Manager of The Arab Critics' Awards for European Films said: "This year's jury saw 26 European films that left us in total confusion because of their good quality and the closeness in the numbers of the votes. In the end, the award went to the remarkable film 107 Mothers. I send my congratulations to the film's creators, and my thanks to my fellow jury members for the time and effort we exerted together for the sake of these events."

Based on a true story, 107 Mothers centres on Lesya, who has just had her first child and been sentenced to seven years in prison for the murder of her husband. In the Ukrainian women's prison, the inmates are allowed to serve their sentence together with their children until they are three years old. 107 Mothers is the director's first fiction feature film, which celebrated its world premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival and was awarded the main prize at Germany's FilmFestival Cottbus, among others. The film has been selected as the Slovak entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 94th Academy Awards.

71 film critics from 15 Arab countries selected the best European films out of 26 nominations submitted by the European national promotion film institutions - EFP's member organisations. The Arab Critics' Awards for European Films was launched in 2019 by EFP and ACC and is meant to create a buzz for European films in the Arab world. It is a spin-off from the ACC's now well-established Critics' Awards to boost film diversity in the region and raise the interest of sales and industry for outstanding European films. This initiative also aims to cast a light on the distinguished film critics from 15 Arab-speaking countries and their important role in opening up new perspectives and bridging cultural idiosyncrasies. In 2019, the film God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya [+see also:
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interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
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interview: Christian Petzold
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