Tunisia’s “Red Path,” directed by Lotfi Achour, was awarded the Golden Yusr for best feature film Thursday at the Red Sea Film Festival awards ceremony, where honorary awards were bestowed on Viola Davis and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Sarah Jessica Parker, Dev Patel, John Boyega and Nick Jonas were among the star guests.
Johnny Depp’s “Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness” screened as the festival’s final gala screening, with Depp attending with star Riccardo Scamarcio.
“Red Path,” described as “a journey into the wounded psyche of a child in a war zone,” is the third feature film by Achour. It had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. The Golden Yusr comes with a $100,000 cash prize.
Achour also took home Red Sea’s Yusr prize for best director, which comes with a $10,000 prize.
The awards were bestowed by a features jury led by its president Spike Lee, and comprised of Minnie Driver, Daniel Dae Kim, Abu Bakr Shawky and Tûba Büyüküstün.
The Silver Yusr for a feature film, which comes with a $30,000 prize, was won by Martin Scorsese-inspired refugee thriller “To a Land Unknown,” directed by Palestinian-Danish helmer Mahdi Fleifel. The film had its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
The film’s lead Mahmoud Bakri nabbed the award for best actor, while the best actress honor went to Mariam Sherif for “Snow White.”
The Yusr award for screenplay and a $10,000 prize was taken by Oday Rasheed for “Songs of Adam.”
The Yusr award for cinematic achievement was won by “To Kill a Mongolian Horse,” directed by Tao Qiu, and the Yusr jury prize, with a $10,000 prize, went to “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo,” directed by Khaled Mansour.
The festival and its Souk market had a new home this year in Jeddah’s historic Al Balad district. The festival lineup comprised 122 films from 85 countries. Fifty per cent of the films were world or international premieres, with 46 world premieres, 15 international premieres and 53 Middle East and North Africa regional premieres, according to Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Red Sea’s managing director.
Jomana Al-Rashid, chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation, said: “Over the past eight days, we have celebrated the transformative power of cinema and championed diverse narratives from across the globe.”
Other prizes included the Asharq Award for best documentary in competition, with a $10,000 prize, for Santiago Mazar’s “State of Silence,” the Chopard Emerging Saudi Talent Award, which went to Roula Dakheellahah, the Film AlUla audience award for international film, which went to “Little Jaffna,” directed by Lawrence Valin, and the Film AlUla audience award for a Saudi film, which came with a $50,000 prize, which went to “Hobal,” directed by Abdulaziz Alshlahei.
The Gold Yusr for best shorts was won by “Hatch,” directed by Alireza Kazemipour and Panta Mosleh. The award came with a $25,000 prize. The Silver Yusr for a short film, with a $12,500 prize, went to “Alazar,” directed by Baiza Hailu Lemma.
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