The Egyptian film In the Last Days of the City has won the Grand Prix at the Polish MFF T-Mobile Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival in Wroclaw. The festival marked the film's Polish premiere, with screenings at at the festival on 28 and 29 July. The prize is worth EUR 20,000, and the winning film is distributed in Poland by the New Horizons Association. The film had its world premiere at the Berlinale where it won the Caligari film prize. It was the only entry by an Egyptian director to take part in the 46th annual Berlinale Forum. Tamer El-Said's feature sees his alter-ego, actor Khalid Abdalla, star as a Cairo-based film-maker strugging to make a film about the city, which is in a state of uproar. Also starring Laila Samy and Hanan Youssef, the shooting of the film began in 2008, taking the filmmakers to Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin and bringing together many talents from the Arab world. The film will have its Australian premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival, screening on both 31 July and on 9 August. Earlier this month, the film was screened in Italy at the Pesaro Film Festival, in Brazil at Olhar de Cinema - Curitiba International Film Festival, and in June it screened at Malta's Valletta Film Festival. Co-produced by Zero Production, the film was written by El-Said and Rasha Salti. The film's art director is late artist Salah Marei. A graduate in film direction from the High Institute of Cinema in 2008, El-Said is an Egyptian filmmaker, writer and producer who lives and works in Cairo. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
