The 19th Ismailia Film Festival announced the winning films from each section Sunday during a ceremony at the Ismailia Culture Palace. Culture Minister Helmy El-Namnam attended the award ceremony, in addition to festival head Essam Zakaria, Ismailia Governor Yassin Taher, Suez Canal Authority head Ehab Mamish, and head of the National Cinema Centre and advisor to the culture minister in film affairs Khaled Abdelgelil. The ceremony began by honouring child participants in the Animation workshop, held during the festival in collaboration with Egypt's Animation Society. This year's two honourees, late director Mohamed Kamel El-Qaliouby and late critic Samir Farid, were posthumously granted the festival's Honourary Award. Egyptian director Adel Badrway's animation film The Long Road won best Arabic film. Dutch film Radio Kobani won best film in the main competition for full-length documentaries. The film was chosen for its effective and engaging treatment of an important humanitarian subject. Radio Kobani centres on a 20-year old Kurdish woman named Dilovan, who started a radio station in the war-torn Syrian town of Kobani to document the city's final days under the control of Islamic State and the stories of refugees returning to their ruined homes. The jury prize winner for the same section was the film Those Who Remain, a co-production between Lebanon and the UAE directed by Elaine Raheb. The film also won the Special Jury Prize Muhr Feature Award at the Dubai International Film Festival. The best short documentary prize went to Palestinian-Lebanese film A Man Returned, while the special jury award in the same section went to Spanish film Saint Lazaru's Miracle. For the short fiction competition, the best film award went to French film Chasse Royale while special jury award went to Ukranian film The Black Mountain. South Korean film My Father's Room won the award for best animation, while Lebanese film Silence won the special jury award in the same section. 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
