Hood wins top African film award
2000-11-17 16:26
Johannesburg - Gavin Hood's A Reasonable Man took most of the
honours at this year's M-Net African Film award ceremony.
The film won the best English language film award. Hood himself was awarded as director actor and for his film script. He also received the Manie van
Rensburg M-Net prize for excellence.
Cash prizes worth R250 00 were also awarded to prize winners from
South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Chad and Namibia. The winners received
their prizes at a gala event at the Lord Somerset hotel in Somerset
West.
The event concluded the Sithengi film and television market presented
in Stellenbosch.
Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah's film Al Madina (The City)
came second and won the prize for best Arabian film.
Nasrallah received the best director award, Samir Bahzane was awarded
best cinematographer prize for The City and Bassam Samra was
honoured as best actor in the film.
Bye Bye Afrika was singled out as the best feature film from a
French-speaking country. It was directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun from
Chad.
The Paulin Vieyra award for the best debut director went to Atef
Hetata from Egypt for his work El Abwab El Moghlaka (Closed
Doors). Sawsan Badr was singled out as best actress.
Teboho Mahlatsi's Portrait of a Young Man Drowning, which also
received the Silver Bear award at the Venice Film Festival, was
honoured as the best short film. The video category was won by
Namibian film maker Vickson Hangula with Kauna's Way.
Maroccan short film La Falaise (The Cliff), directed by Faouzi
Bensandi and South African director Dumisani Phakati's short film
Christmas with Granny were also singled out for the Manie van
Rensburg award for excellence.
M-Net's African film awards celebrates its 12th birthday this year.
"The African film awards is the perfect breeding ground for new
talent. We celebrate, while at the same time build a profile for
established and experienced film makers," said M-Net executive chief
Glen Marcus.