Merzak Allouache Receives the Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year Award at ADFF 2013
The Algerian director Merzak Allouache was awarded the Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year Award today, in the presence of Ali Al Jabri, the ADFF director; Alberto Lopez, head of Variety Arabia, Jay Weissberg a film critic for Variety as well as Intishal Al Timimi the Director of Arabic Programming and members of the local and International press.
At the ceremony Jay Weissberg stated that he was honored to be presenting this award to the Algerian director in recognition for his film The Rooftops that is being screened at the Abu Dhabi Film festival in its 2013 edition. Noting that the award is usually given to directors for their career achievements, he said that this year is different, as Allouche was being awarded not only for his film but also for his bravery, his valor for saying what needs to be said through film.
On the other hand, Allouache stated that he was very happy to receive this award and he even joked about how the Algerian press was obliged to speak about the award back in his native Algeria, where he had been previously criticized by them for portraying the country in a positive light.
Previous notable awardees of the prize have been Raed Amin Matalqa for Captain Abu Raed in 2008, Elia Suleiman for The Time That Remains in 2009, The Son of Babylon in 2010 directed by Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji. Asghar Farhadi received the award for A Separation in 2011 and finally Yousry Nasrallah for After the Battle in 2012.