ACC Reveals Nominees for 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films to Be Held at 78th Cannes Film Festival

The Arab Cinema Center has revealed the nominees for the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films, honoring standout achievements in Arab cinema
( April 30, 2025 ) -

Continuing its tradition of celebrating excellence in Arab cinema, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) has announced the nominees for the ninth edition of its annual Critics Awards for Arab Films.

Leading the pack with five nominations each this year are four films: “Thank You for Banking With Us;” “Everybody Loves Touda;” “Ghost Trail” and “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo.” Following close behind them, with four nominations, is: “Aïcha.”

Several other films also had multiple nominations including: “The Village Next to Paradise;” “To A Land Unknown;” “Voy! Voy! Voy!” And “Norah.”

This year’s winners will be revealed during a ceremony held on May 17th as part of the Cannes Film Festival. The event is organized in collaboration with MAD Solutions and the International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA), and attendance is by invitation only.

The Critics Awards for Arab Films have become a prestigious and anticipated highlight of the festival calendar. The 2025 edition marks another milestone in the award’s legacy, with a record-breaking 281 jury members from 75 countries voting on the standout Arab films of the past year. Nominees were selected from films that premiered outside the Arab world in the 2024 calendar year.

This year’s nominations span across a range of categories, including Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Music, showcasing the depth and diversity of the storytelling craft and from across the Arab region.

Here’s the final list of nominees:

Best Feature Film

  • “Thank You for Banking With Us!” | Laila Abbas | Palestine
  • “Everybody Loves Touda” | Nabil Ayouch | Morocco
  • “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo” | Khaled Mansour | Egypt
  • “Aïcha” | Mehdi Barsaoui | Tunisia
  • “Ghost Trail” | Jonathan Millet | France

    • Best Director

  • Laila Abbas | “Thank You for Banking With Us!”
  • Nabil Ayouch | “Everybody Loves Touda”
  • Khaled Mansour | “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo”
  • Jonathan Millet | “Ghost Trail”
  • Mahdi Fleifel | “To A Land Unknown”

    • Best Screenplay

  • Laila Abbas | “Thank You for Banking With Us!”
  • Nabil Ayouch & Maryam Touzani | “Everybody Loves Touda”
  • Mehdi Barsaoui | “Aïcha”
  • Jonathan Millet & Florence Rochat | “Ghost Trail”
  • Mo Harawe | “The Village Next to Paradise”

    • Best Actor

  • Essam Omar | “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo”
  • Adam Bessa | “Ghost Trail”
  • Yagoub Alfarhan | “Norah”
  • Muhammad Farrag | “Voy! Voy! Voy!”
  • Majd Mastoura | “Agora”

    • Best Actress

  • Yasmine Al Massri | “Thank You for Banking With Us!”
  • Nisrin Erradi | “Everybody Loves Touda”
  • Hala Rajab | “Ghost Trail”
  • Diamand Abou Abboud | “Arzé”
  • Rakeen Saad | “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo”

    • Best Cinematography

  • Antoine Héberlé | “Aïcha”
  • Mostafa El Kashef | “The Village Next to Paradise”
  • Thodoros Mihopoulos | “To A Land Unknown”
  • Jonathan Sela | “The Strangers’ Case”
  • Wojciech Staron | “Red Path”

    • Best Editing

  • Heba Othman | “Thank You for Banking With Us!”
  • Yasser Azmy | “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo”
  • Joana Scrinzi | “The Village Next to Paradise”
  • Ahmed Hafez | “Voy! Voy! Voy!”
  • Noaz Deshe & Felipe Guerrero | “Xoftex”

    • Best Music

  • Kristian Eidnes Andersen & Flemming Nordkrog | “Everybody Loves Touda”
  • Amin Bouhafa | “Aïcha”
  • Omar Fadel | “Norah”
  • Florencia Di Concilio | “The Vanishing”
  • Rodrigo D’Erasmo | “Samia”

    • Best Documentary

  • “No Other Land”
  • “Diaries From Lebanon”
  • “A Fidah Film”
  • “Sudan, Remember Us”
  • “From Ground Zero”

    • Best Short Film

  • “After The Sun”
  • “Upshot”
  • “Mango”
  • “Shadows”
  • “A Short Film About Kids”

    About the Arab Cinema Center
    Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the ACC is a nonprofit organization registered in Berlin and is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema, providing the Arab filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with its counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes.

    The ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. The ACC’s activities vary between film markets, stands, and pavilions, networking sessions and one-on-one meetings bringing together Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, as well as meetings with international organizations and festivals, and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets.

    Furthermore, a newsletter subscription is now available on the ACC’s website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on the ACC’s activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from the ACC’s partners and their future projects.

    The ACC also launched an English-language Arab Cinema Guide, available on its website, which is a comprehensive cinematic guide that provides a variety of tools presented collectively for the first time to offer information on Arab cinema to filmmakers inside and outside the Arab world. It also aims to facilitate filmmakers’ access to international markets and help film industry representatives easily identify Arab film productions.