By Kate Elfatah

The 45th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) was capped off with an elegant award ceremony on Friday, November 22, at the Cairo Opera House , which honoured a wide variety of film accomplishments around the world. I was lucky enough to be there, to experience first-hand the passion and craftsmanship that underwrote this year’s stellar line-up of movies.

The Best Film was the Romanian film, Bogdan Mureșanu’s The New Year That Never Came. It was an intense drama that made audiences and critics fall in love with Mureșanu’s storytelling abilities.

The Silver Pyramid Award for Best Director went to Natalia Nazarova’s Russian film “Postmarks,” an honest portrayal of human empathy in the midst of tragedy. The movie also won awards for Maxim Stoyanov as Best Actor and Special Mention for Best Actress for Alina Khojevanova.

The Brazilian film director Pedro Freire won the Bronze Pyramid Award for Best First or Second Work for his elegiac coming-of-age drama Malu. Yara De Novaes had an excellent performance in the movie and was nominated for the Best Actress.

Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman shared the Naguib Mahfouz Best Screenplay for their Italian movie “Vittoria,” an arresting film about identity and home.

The festival also highlighted Arab cinema with the Horizons of Arab Cinema Awards. “Spring Came Laughing” — directed by Noha Adel in Egypt won Salah Abu Seif Award for Best Director and FIPRESCI Prize. It also gave Rehab Anan a Special Mention for Best Actress.

The Best Arabic Film Saad Eldin Wahba Award went to “A State of Passion”, a moving Palestinian film starring Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi.

The Youssef Chahine Award for Best Short Film was given to the Chinese filmmakers Kai Xue and Hong Jiexi’s “David”.

And those are merely the highlights of an evening well worth remembering. This year’s Cairo International Film Festival continues to be an essential place to celebrate world-class cinema, and I was delighted to participate in this year’s celebration of filmmaking. See all the winners at the festival HERE.