Finnish movie wins El Gouna Golden Star award in Egypt's GFF

“The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic” won the El Gouna Golden Star for Narrative Film award in the Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival (GFF).

Director Teemu Nikki received the trophy, a certificate and 50,000 US dollars at the closing ceremony of the fifth edition of the GFF wrapped up late on Friday, reported Xinhua.

El Gouna Star for the Best Actor went to Petri Poikolainen for his role in The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic.

The winning films received total cash prizes of 244,000 U.S. dollars in the festival this year.

Held at the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, the ceremony presented GFF's Career Achievement Award to Palestinian actor and director Mohammed Bakri.

El Gouna Star for the Best Actress went to Maya Vanderbeque for her role in Playground.

Prominent Egyptian actress Elham Shahin took the stage to present a video commemorating the legacy of renowned late screenwriter Wahid Hamed, expressing the gratitude from a number of stars and directors who had worked with him.

El Gouna Silver Star for Narrative Film went to Sundown written and directed by Michel Franco, while the Bronze Star went to the Russian drama film Captain Volkonogov Escaped.

For the Best Arab Narrative Film, the award went to Feathers by Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy.

For Feature Documentary Competition, El Gouna Golden Star for Documentary Film went to Life of Ivanna by Renato Borrayo Serrano, and El Gouna Star for the Best Arab Documentary Film went to Captains of Za'atari by Ali El Arabi.

In the Short Film Competition section, Katia by Andrey Natotcinskiy received El Gouna Golden Star award, and El Gouna Star for Best Arab Short Film went to CAI-BER by Ahmed Abdelsalam.

The fifth edition of GFF kicked off on Oct. 14 in Egypt's El Gouna, screening 80 Arab and international films.

The festival also witnessed workshops, masterclasses, and special events attended by a host of locally and internationally prominent industry experts.

As one of the leading festivals in the Middle East, GFF aims to showcase a variety of films and foster better communication between cultures through the art of filmmaking.

The festival is also meant to connect filmmakers from the region with their international counterparts.