Winners of the El Gouna Film Festival 2025!
- Golden Star for Narrative Film | A POET by Simón Mesa Soto
- Silver Star for Narrative Film | LUCKY LU by Lloyd Lee Choi
- Bronze Star for Narrative Film | THE SETTLEMENT by Mohamed Rashad
-Star for Best Actor | Ahmed Malek in MY FATHER’S SCENT
- Star for Best Actress | Lea Drucker in ADAM’S SAKE
- Star for the Best Arab Narrative Film | WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM by Rising Star Amel Guellaty
Special Mention | ROMERIA by Carla Simon
Stay updated with all the latest news about the pulse of global cinema, from major blockbusters to hidden gems. Discover insightful interviews, engaging cinema and film news, and comprehensive that cover the entire spectrum of the film industry. Whether you're a casual viewer or a dedicated cinephile, we've got you covered with everything you need.
VENEZIA 82
The VENEZIA 82 Jury, chaired by Alexander Payne and composed of Stéphane Brizé, Maura Delpero, Cristian Mungiu, Mohammad Rasoulof, Fernanda Torres and Zhao Tao having viewed all 21 films in competition, has decided as follows:
GOLDEN LION for Best Film to:
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER by Jim Jarmusch (USA, Ireland, France)
SILVER LION – GRAND JURY PRIZE to:
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia, France)
SILVER LION – AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR to:
Benny Safdie for the film THE SMASHING MACHINE (USA)
COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress:
Xin Zhilei in the film RI GUA ZHONG TIAN (THE SUN RISES ON US ALL) by Cai Shangjun (China)
COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor:
Toni Servillo in the film LA GRAZIA by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY to:
Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand for the film À PIED D’ŒUVRE (AT WORK) by Valérie Donzelli (France)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to:
SOTTO LE NUVOLE (BELOW THE CLOUDS) by Gianfranco Rosi (Italy)
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress to:
Luna Wedler in the film SILENT FRIEND by Ildikó Enyedi (Germany, Hungary, France)
FESTIVALS
Cannes 2025 Palm D'Or is Iranian!
All the winners from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
In Competition
Palme d’Or: Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident
Grand Prix: Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value
Jury Prize: Oliver Laxe for Sirât and Mascha Schilinski for Sound of Falling
Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent
Best Screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Young Mothers
Best Actress: Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister
Best Actor: Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent
Special Prize: Resurrection, Bi Gan
Camera d’Or for Best First Film: The President’s Cake, Hassan Hadi
Palme d’Or for Best Short Film: I’m Glad You’re Dead Now, Tawfeek Barhom
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize: La Misteriosa Mirada Del Flamenco (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo), Diego Céspedes
Jury Prize: Un Poeta (A Poet), Simón Mesa Soto
Best Directing: Arab & Tarzan Nasser for Once Upon a Time in Gaza
Best Actor: Frank Dillane in Urchin, directed by Harris Dickinson
Best Actress: Cleo Diára in O Riso e a Faca (I Only Rest in the Storm), directed by Pedro Pinho
Best Screenplay: Pillion, Harry Lighton
Cannes Film Festival 2025
Read SEA
FILM FESTIVAL 2025
The full RSIFF 2025 winners list is below.
Features Competition
Golden Yusr Best Feature Film ($100,000 prize): Lost Land (directed by Akio Fujimoto)
Silver Yusr Feature Film ($30,000 prize): All That’s Left of You (directed by Cherien Dabis)
Yusr Jury Prize ($10,000 prize): Hijra (directed by Shahad Ameen)
Yusr Best Director ($10,000 prize): Ameer Fakher Eldin for Yunan
Yusr Best Actor: George Khabbaz for Yunan
Yusr Best Actress: Seo Su-Bin for The World of Love
Yusr Best Screenplay ($10,000 prize): A Sad and Beautiful World(written and directed by Cyril Aris)
Yusr Cinematic Achievement: Nighttime Sounds (directed by Zhang Zhongchen)
Al Sharq Award for Best Documentary In Competition ($10,000 prize): In-I: In Motion (directed by Juliette Binoche)
Film AlUla Best Saudi Film Award: Hijra (directed by Shahad Ameen)
Read Sea International Film Festival
In a country where cinema had been banned for 35 years, the first edition of the Red Sea Film Festival started at full steam with the valiant support of the international film community. Taking place from December 6 -15 and is set to bring the best in Arab and World Cinema to the UNESCO world heritage site of Jeddah Old Town. Alongside a retrospective programme celebrating the masters of cinema, the festival provides a platform for Arab filmmakers and industry professionals and offers a rich mix of arthouse films, talks about politics, everyday life, relations between men and women, violence, films that spark conversation and debate.
The festival was due to hold its inaugural edition in March 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic frustrated this plan. It finally got under way on Monday night with an opening gala that brought celebrities from all over the Arabic world and a prestigious selection of international guests, among them Hend Sabry, Anthony Mackie, Clive Owen, Hilary Swank, Thierry Frémaux, Michele Morrone, Yaqoub AlFarhan, Mila AlZahrani, Yassir AlSaggaf and Godus Brothers
The first night seems to have started in tune with many of the year’s other international festivals by honouring three female prominent film figures: the first female Saudi filmmaker, Haifaa Al Mansour, French actress Catherine Deneuve and Egyptian actress Laila Eloui.
The opening movie was the romantic musical Cyrano, directed by Joe Wright. This is Wright’s first opportunity to direct a musical and he brings both intimacy and scope to the adaptation of Erica Schmidt’s 2018 stage musical of the same name, which was itself based on the classic 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. While Wright had fallen in love with the story of Cyrano as a teenager, he’d come to consider making his own version after seeing Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennet. A musical might sound a peculiar choice for an inaugural film, as the genre is not everyone taste, but for an audience deprived of cinema for so many years, everything is exiting, and reveals cinema as a social entertainment, experienced together, on a big screen, away from streaming platforms (Netflix, Apple, Amazon).