The Egyptian film Clash (Eshtebak) by filmmaker Mohamed Diab won four awards at the 27th edition of the Carthage Film Festival, which ran this year between 28 October and 5 November in Tunisia. The film garnered the second highest prize in the festival's feature film competition, the Best Photography Award and the Best Editing Award, in addition to the African University Award for Cinematic Criticism for Best Feature Film (The Nagiba El-Hamrony Award). The Gold Tanit Award went to the Tunisian film Zaineb Hates the Snow by filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania. Palestinian film 3,000 Nights by director Mai Masri received the third top prize. A total of 18 films, among them the Egyptian film Sins of the Flesh by director Khaled El-Haggar, competed in this year's feature film competition, which was headed by Mauritanian filmmaker and producer Abderrahmane Sissako. Also competing in this year's edition were the award-winning Egyptian films Dry Hot Summers by director Sherif El-Bendary (short film competition), and We Have Never Been Kids by director Mahmoud Soliman (first feature film category). Last week, the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) announced that it will present Clash to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for Golden Globe Awards consideration. The second film that will see the DIFF's support is Halal Love (Bil Halal), directed by Lebanese filmmaker and television director Assad Fouladkar. The recommendation came within DIFF's newly launched annual initiative to present two exceptional Arab films to the HFPA for the Golden Globe Awards. The initiative aims at promoting and supporting Arab cinema at an international level and building innovative and strategic partnerships with relevant partners all over the world. Produced in 2016 and co-written by Khaled Diab and director Mohamed Diab, Clash is a co-production between France, Egypt, Germany and the UAE. Clash explores the confrontations between pro and anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators that emerged following the removal of president Mohamed Morsi from power on 3 July 2013. The film premiered at the Un Certain Regard section at the 69th Cannes Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter named Clash one of the 10 best films at the Cannes Film Festival. Clash also competed in the 60th BFI London Film Festival. Most recently, Clash won three awards – Best New Director, Best Director of Photography, and the Sociograph Award, which is voted for by the audience – at the 61st Valladolid Film Festival (Seminci, Spain), which was held between 22 and 29 October. The film is also set to screen in the 28th round of the Cairo International Film Festival (15 - 24 November) as part of a special section dedicated to showcasing the best Egyptian productions of 2015-2016, subtitled in English, to acquaint foreign guests with high quality Egyptian cinema. Clash is Egypt's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards 2017. 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
