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The German-French co-production Undine by Christian Petzold, starring former European Shooting Star Franz Rogowski and Silver Bear winner Paula Beer, has won the Arab Critics' Award for European Films, which was launched by European Film Promotion (EFP) and Arab Cinema Center (ACC) in 2019.

Christian Petzold received the award virtually on Monday evening, 7 December, during the gala awards ceremony hosted at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival which is running physically until 10 December, 2020.

" We are thrilled to receive the Arab Critics Award," he says. "Three years ago, when I was at the film festival in Cairo, I had already started thinking about Undine. At the end of the festival - we were invited for a sailing trip on the Nile - I was telling a bit about the story of the German myth of Undine, and we found ourselves wondering how an Undine who rises from the waters of the Nile would look like. We would love to be in Cairo, but, of course, for reasons we all know, that’s not possible - but we’ll definitely make up for that later. We send our best wishes to the jury and the festival, from here, under the grey autumn skies of Berlin."

56 film critics from 14 Arab countries selected the best European film out of 22 nominations submitted by the European national promotion film institutions - EFP’s member organisations. The director of the jury Ola Kamel Al-Sheikh is delighted "to announce the Arab Critics' Awards for European Films to Undine by director Christian Petzold of this year’s edition. My happiness with the result is complete because Undine is one of those you-can’t-miss films. It is delightful to see it among the official selection of the Cairo International Film Festival this year."

Undine is Christian Petzold’s personal view of the myth of the water spirit Undine who can only lead an earthly life and attain a soul through the love of a human being. His Undine defies her role as a powerless and spurned woman and falls in love anew with a man who dives into the sunken world of a reservoir.

The Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films was launched in 2019 by EFP and ACC and is meant to create a buzz for European films in the Arab world. It is a spin-off from the ACC’s now well-established Critics' Awards to boost film diversity in the region and raise the interest of sales and industry for outstanding European films. This initiative also aims to cast a light on the distinguished film critics from 14 Arab-speaking countries and their important role in opening up new perspectives and bridging cultural idiosyncrasies.

In 2019, the film God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya by Teona Strugar Mitevska won the first Arab Critics’ Award for European Films.

Organized by MAD Solutions in 2015, the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) is a nonprofit organization registered in Amsterdam. The ACC is an international promotional platform for Arab cinema as it provides the filmmaking industry with a professional window to connect with their counterparts from all over the world through a number of events that it organizes. The ACC also provides networking opportunities with representatives of companies and institutions specialized in co-production and international distribution, among others. The ACC’s activities vary between film markets, stands, and pavilions, networking sessions, and one-on-one meetings bringing together Arab and foreign filmmakers, welcome parties, as well as meetings with international organizations and festivals, and the issuance of the Arab Cinema Magazine to be distributed at the leading international film festivals and markets. Furthermore, newsletter subscription is now available on the ACC’s website, allowing users to obtain digital copies of the Arab Cinema Magazine, as well as news on the ACC’s activities, notifications of application dates for grants, festivals and offers from educational and training institutions, updates on Arab films participating at festivals, exclusive news on the Arab Cinema LAB, and highlights from the ACC’s partners and their future projects.

The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) is one of only 15 festivals accorded the "A" category status by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations FIAPF. It is the oldest and only internationally accredited cultural feature film festival in the Arab world, Africa and the Middle East.
The history of CIFF goes back to 1975 when, after visiting the Berlin Film Festival, the late writer-critic Kamal El Mallakh and a group of like-minded cinema critics wondered why such a world-class festival couldn’t take place in Egypt. The country was still riding the crest of Egyptian cinema’s golden age and had a formidable film industry which is still the biggest in the Arab world. The Cairo International Film Festival was launched in 1976.