7th Arab Film Festival Zurich Awards

The Animation Lab on Thursday and Friday was a first attempt to build a bridge between Swiss and Arab animation filmmakers, and it introduced our jury – Maryam Essa Al-Khulaifi, Ivana Kvesic and Kat Woodtli – to new talents. The event was organised together with the Animation Department of the HSLU, the International Animation Festival Fantoche and the Groupement Suisse du Film d'Animation GSFA. The Lab was supported by the Zurich Film Foundation, and the prizes were sponsored by Katara Studios in Qatar, Concave Studios in Egypt and RoDo Works in Zurich. The jury and the participants felt that this initiative should be continued.

The VR section on Saturday and Sunday allowed visitors to immerse themselves in two affecting experiences dealing with current issues affecting the Arab world.

The festival team received very good feedback from the guests about their experience at the festival and from enthusiastic audience members about the films. However, the unusually sunny weather proved a challenge for the festival as well as for other cinemas.

The festival thanks all of the institutions, foundations and other organisations that supported it: the City of Zurich, the Canton of Zurich and the SüdKulturFonds of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation DEZA; the Corymbo Foundation, the Temperatio foundation and by Sorell Hotels. It was also supported by the Catholic Church of the Canton of Zurich, by the Reformed Church of the Canton of Zurich, by Migros Kulturprozent, by Alam Alkutub and by Ghazal Design.

Food and wine were sponsored by Sama Beirut and Same SA. The partner festivals, the Saudi Film Festival, which helped to organize the Saudi Panel and visits from various guests, JCC, the Cairo International Festival, the Festival de Rabat, the Tripoli Film Festival, the Centre Cinématographique Marocain and Cinewaves Films have also been supportive, as have several foundations that don't want to be named. The festival is very grateful to all of them.

The festival is indebted to the Frame cinemas and especially Filmpodium for all their help with the screenings and the other events.

For the first time ever, the festival bestowed an Audience Award. This is not a cash prize, but a good indication of the film’s audience potential at least in Switzerland. The winner is: My Father, Nour and I

The official Festival Awards were bestowed by the jury: Afef Ben Mahmoud, a Tunisian dancer, actress, director and producer; Nicolas Wadimoff, one of Switzerland's most acclaimed filmmakers; and Jay Weissberg, an American film critic and director of the festival Giornate del cinema muto in Pordenone.

Special Mention: Animalia

The jury has decided to add a Special Mention prize this year, awarded to a film that stood out for its bold cinematic vision, its originality of topic, and its ability to weave complex and layered storytelling into an engaging, witty and sincere cinematic experience. The Special Mention Jury Prize goes to Animalia by Sofia Alaoui.

The award for Sofia Alaoui was accepted by the lead actress, Oumaima Barid.

Best Director: The Mother of All Lies

For her ability to reconstruct buried memories using narrative and formal devices as ingenious as they are sensitive. For its ability to turn an intimate story into one that encompasses a whole section of Moroccan society and, by extension, addresses the truths hidden by repressive systems throughout the four corners of the world. For making us cry but also laugh, for this hymn to resilience and life filmed in the most beautiful of ways, the jury awards the prize for best direction to Asmae El Moudir for her film The Mother of All Lies.

Best Film: Aïcha

We have spoken about the pernicious effects of silence, and how this topic, so relevant in the current agonizing climate, has formed a thread connecting so many of the films seen here at the Arab Film Festival. We‘ve chosen to give the best film prize to a feature that underlines the moral duty to speak out, no matter the personal consequences, because the truth really does liberate. In addition, the film we’re awarding deftly weaves together multiple themes with impressive visual flair and a strong central performance. The best film prize at Zurich’s 2025 Arab Film Festival goes to Aïcha, directed by Mehdi M. Barsaoui.

Fatma Sfar, the star of the film, accepted the award for Mehdi M. Barsaoui.

The festival thanks the jury for their work and for their dedication to Arab films.

Thanks to all the guests, many of whom came from far away, some of them under their own steam.

Thanks to the whole team from the IAFFZ association and all the volunteers who did a great job making the festival work.

And finally, thanks to the audience, for showing up despite the nice weather.