Egyptian filmmaker Hala Lotfy will be on a jury panel of the upcoming 70th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), scheduled to take place between 20 February and 1 March. Lotfy will be deciding on the winner of the Best First Feature Award together with two other jury members, Serbian director and writer Ognjen Glavonić, and Spanish film programmer and scholar Gonzalo de Pedro Amatria. Lotfy, the director, producer and the founder of Hassala Films collective, is a graduate of Cairo Film Institute. Her creative portfolio includes works such as Ann Al-Sho'our Bel Berouda (Feeling Cold, 2005), a documentary that received numerous awards including the Special Jury Prize at the National Film Festival in Egypt. The film was followed by other documentaries produced for television channels and cinema screens. Her feature fiction debut Al-Khoroug Lel-Nahar (Coming Forth by Day, 2012) had its European premiere at the Berlinale Forum in 2013 and won many awards including the Prize of the FIPRESCI jury and Best Director from the Arab World at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. EXT./Night (2018) directed by Ahmad Abdalla is the latest feature fiction film that Lotfy produced. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018. The jury panel of the Best First Feature Film will choose from 21 films by 21 directors nominated for the award. Among the entries are films mainly from Europe, Latin America, the US and one from Nigeria. There are no entries from Egypt or the Arab world. The award for Best First Feature Film was introduced in 2006 with an aim to support the next generation of filmmakers. The award is endowed with 50,000 euros, to be split between the producer and the director of the winning film. 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
