Egypt bags four awards at film festival

Alexandria Film Festival awards announced Although Egypt walked away empty handed in the film categories, it more than made up for this by taking home four gongs at the 28th edition of the Alexandria Film Festival on Tuesday. Egyptian movie “The Samaa Khana”, directed by Berihan Murad, won best documentary, while the jury's special award went to Egyptian documentary, “The Outrage of the Sea and the River”, directed by Ahmed Siyam. The only Egyptian movie listed in the festival's competition went home without a win.
Without a single award animated movies were the biggest losers on the night after judges found the entries "underwhelming".
Director of the Serbian movie "The Enemy" and the full cast of the Slovenian movie "The Journey" received special awards of notable achievement.
The pest picture award for short films went to the Egyptian movie "A boy and a Girl" directed by Hala Badr, while the jury's special award went to another Egyptian movie "Wearing a Pyjama", directed by Maisara al-Najar.
The board of the festival handed special awards to the Syrian guests of honour; including the film critic Maher Angari, director Waha al-Raheb, actress Luiz Abdelkarim, actor Abdelhakim Qatfan, brothers Mohammed and Ahmed Malas [filmmakers] and the slain director Tamer Awam . Awam was killed by the Syrian regime forces during the ongoing uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Head of the competition Italian filmmaker Piro Belkani teamed up with acclaimed Egyptian actress Lebleba , a jury member, to hand out the awards.  
The closing ceremony of the 28th edition of the Alexandria Film Festival for Mediterranean countries was held on Tuesday in Egypt's ancient city. The award announcements were followed by a short theatrical show titled "Alexandria More and More".
The awarded winners were as follows:
Best picture: The Snake (Turkey) - Directed by Azzaz Mohammed Ali
Best script: Lost Motherhood (Italy)
Best actor: Bresios Paulos (Greece), for his role in the movie "Red-Hot Heads".
Best actress: Jalila (Morocco), for her role in the movie "Flesh and Blood".
Best director: Rida al-Bahei (Tunisia), for the movie "Brandon Forever".
Best production: Deadlock Silence (Spain).