Ten of the 36 local films screened this year have been short-listed to compete in the annual Egyptian Oscars Awards – a ceremony widely considered by critics as one of the most inconsequential and peculiar film events in the country.
But while only half of the nominated films deserve the recognition, the rest are just there to fill in the blanks.
The list includes Omaret Yacoubian (Yacoubian Building), Halim, El Esheq Wal Hawa (About Love and Affection), Awkat Faragh (Spare Time), Kalam Fel Hob (Talking Love), Belarabi Cinderella (Cinderella in Arabic), Wahed Men El Nas (One of the People), Fatah Eneek (Open Your Eyes), Malek We Ketaba (Heads and Tails) and Dam El Ghazal (The Deer s Blood).
The films are compete for awards in best film, best actor and actress, best supporting roles, best director, best script, best music score, best art direction and best cinematography.
Unlike the real Academy Awards though, all films are nominated for all categories.
Actress Madiha Youssri heads the jury panel which includes Mahmoud Yassin, critic Moustafa Darwish, music composer Hani Shinouda, script writer Farouk Sabry, cinematographer Farouk Sabry, director Farouk El Rasheedy, art director Mahmoud Abdel Gawad and organizer Abdel Moneim Saad.
Industry insiders allege that Saad, who is also the editor of entertainment magazine El Cinema Wel Nas (Cinema and People), uses the ceremony as a commercial tool to establish and fortify his relationship with the stars and thus, secure coverage of different entertainment activities throughout the year for his publication.
A renowned critic, who preferred to remain anonymous, calls these awards trivial, and based on ignorance.
The Oscars is a fundamentally American concept with a long history of culture and politics, he said. It just doesn t make any sense to hold a competition called Oscars when the organizers aren t even the American Academy s representatives.
In addition, these so-called Oscars merely reflect the mainstream cinema’s status and not the current entire cinematic spectrum in Egypt. The year s best film for example El Banat Dool (Those Girls) hasn t made the Oscars shortlist despite the stupendous acclaim the film received in Egypt and the rest of the world.
The Egyptian Oscars are the first awards ceremony of the new cinematic year. The most well known and respected awards ceremonies are the ones given by the Writers and Critics Guild, the Public Center for Cinema and the Catholic Film Committee.
