EGYPTIAN filmmaker Khairi Bishara, head of the international jury committee of the 22nd round of the Alexandria International Film Festival (5-10 September), affirms that the jury was virtually unanimous in selecting the awards, as he tells Mohamed El-Assyouti. After three days of viewing films, the jury -- which included Egyptian director Inas El-Degheidi, French director Serge Le Péron, Greek director Yorgos Katakouzinos, Moroccan actress Mona Sitou and Russian critic Natalie Viko -- reached its decisions. Out of the nine films in competition, seven were of good standard, which made the award selection process relatively easy and gratifying. The Greek film Horodia tou haritona, I ( Chariton's Choir, 2005) received the festival's Best Film Award, its director Grigoris Karantinakis won Best Director Award and its lead actress Maria Nafpliotou shared the Best Actress Award. The jury announced in its citation that the vividness of the film's images and the innovativeness of the imagination of the filmmakers earned Chariton's Choir their admiration. The film depicts the world of a small village where people strive to live happily under the oppression of the military dictatorship, but the high sense of humour of the treatment of the subject matter made the Chariton's Choir stand out among the rest. The director's ability to smoothly alternate between tragic and comic moments was praised. The French film De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (The Beat that My Heart Skipped, 2005), directed by Jacques Audiard, won the Special Jury Award. Winner of French César awards and critically acclaimed the film is an artistically highly achieved expression of the conflict between matter and spirit, between violence and culture, between racism and music. The Russian critic in her comment on the film quoted Fyodor Dostoyevsky's credo that "Beauty will save the world". The Serbian film Sutra Ujutru (Tomorrow Morning, 2006), directed by Oleg Novkovic, earned Best Screenplay for its writer Milena Markovic, while its lead actress Ana Markovic shared the Best Actress Award. The film effectively evokes the tragedy of exile, war and destruction. The Egyptian film Li'bat Al-Hobb (Love Game, 2006) directed by Mohamed Ali, received Best Directorial Debut Award, and the Best Actor Award for Khaled Abul-Naga. Ali's mastery of cinematic language, which he uses swiftly and elegantly in his first film, and Abul-Naga's simple and warm performance, impressed the jury. The film shows a keen understanding of relationships between men and women in Egyptian society today. The French-German-Lebanese co-production Yom Akhar (A Perfect Day, 2005) directed by Joana Hadjithomas and Kalil Joreige received the Jury's Best Artistic Achievement Award. The film unfolds like a single slow-paced long scene, depicting the disappearance of a father in 1982, the hallucinations of the wife who expects him and the sickness of the son who misses him. See schedule of the Experimental Fesitval Theatre
