A Drowning Man Wins Best Short Film Award at Arab Short Film Festival

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A Drowning Man Wins Best Short Film Award at Arab Short Film Festival


A few days ahead of its participation at the Palestine Cinema Days, director Mahdi Fleifel's short film A Drowning Man won the Best Short Film Award at the 14th edition of the Arab Short Film Festival (Cinema Lekol Nas).

Alone and far from home, the kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive, his life of exile grows one day longer.

Written and directed by Mahdi Fleifel, A Drowning Man stars Atef Alshafei, Jalal Qaniry, Mounir Al khateeb, Rebih El-Saleous, and Thymios Koukios. The film is produced by Final Cut for Real, Nakba Film Works and distributed through the Arab world by MAD Solutions, while Salaud Morisset is handling the film's world sales.

Most recently, the film took part in a number of prestigious film festivals including the Karama Beirut Human Rights Film Festival in Lebanon and Festival Ciné-Palestine (FCP) in Paris, France. A Drowning Man received the Jurys' Special Mention at the Gabes Film Festival in Tunisia, and a Special Mention at the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts in Egypt.

The film competed at the 2018 BAFTA Awards for Best British Short Film, in addition, it won the Best Muhr Short Film award at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). It also landed its world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival as the only Arab participation in the Short Films competition.

A Drowning Man participated in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), within its Short Cuts competition, Melbourne International Film Festival and the Odense International Film Festival. The film won the Silver Spike Award for Best Short Film at the Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain.