arab critics awards

Source: Totem Films / Aneta Gebska, Filip Gebski

‘The Woodcutter Story’, ‘EO’

Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO and Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter Story are among the nominees for the 4th Arab Critics’ Awards for European Film.

The 23-strong list, which will be shortlisted to three and an eventual winner, includes 11 entries for best international feature at the Oscars.

Alongside EO, which follows a donkey travelling from the Polish circus to an Italian slaughterhouse, other Oscar hopefuls on the list include Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s Beautiful Beings from Iceland and Juraj Lerotic’s Locarno winner Safe Place from Croatia.

A joint venture between European Film Promotion (EFP) and the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Center (ACC), the awards are an offshoot of ACC’s Arab Critics’ Awards and was launched in 2019 with the aim to promote European cinema to Arab audienes.

Further nominees include Andreas Dresen’s Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush from Germany. Based on real events, the film premiered at Berlin where it picked up the Silver Bear for screenplay (Laila Stieler) and leading performance (Meltem Kaptan).

Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s Mr. Landsbergis is also on the list. The documentary centres around Lithuania breaking away from the Soviet Union during the late 1980s.

Last year, the award went to Peter Kerekes’s 107 Mothers.

Arab Critics’ Awards for European Film 2022 nominees

Matter Out Of Place (Aus)
Dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter

A Ballad (Bos & Her)
Dir. Aida Begić

Safe Place (Cro)
Dir. Juraj Lerotić

.Dog (Cyprus)
Dir. Ioanna Amerikanou

Il Boemo (Czech)
Dir. Petr Vaclav

Unruly (Den)
Dir. Malou Reymann

Kalev (Est)
Dir. Ove Musting

The Woodcutter Story (Fin)
Dir. Mikko Myllylahti

Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (Ger)
Dir. Andreas Dresen

A Long Break (Geo)
Dir. Data Pirtskhalava

Magnetic Fields (Gre)
Dir. Yorgos Goussis

Gentle (Hun)
Dir. László Csuja

Beautiful Beings (Ice)
Dir. Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson

January (Lat)
Dir. Viesturs Kairiśs

Mr. Landsbergis (Lit)
Dir. Sergei Loznitsa

The Happiest Man In The World (N. Macedonia)
Dir. Teona Strugar Mitevska

EO (Pol)
Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski

To The North (Rom)
Dir. Mihai Mincan

Working Class Heroes (Ser)
Dir. Miloš Pušić

Victim (Slovakia)
Dir. Michal Blaško

Moja Vesna (Slovenia)
Dir. Sara Kern

Nelly & Nadine (Swe)
Dir. Magnus Gertten

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