The Ministry of Interior Cinema Awards Committee and ADFF Announce CPA Jury

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The Ministry of Interior Cinema Awards Committee and ADFF Announce CPA Jury

The Ministry of Interior Cinema Awards Committee and Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) has announced the names of jury members of the Child Protection Award (CPA), held in coordination with UAE's Ministry of Interior (MOI). The jury is headed by Egyptian Director Marwan Hamed, and consists of Vice-President of the Ministry of Interior Cinema Awards Committee, Lieutenant Colonel Faisal Mohamed Al Shimmari, Italian Cultural Expert Alessandra Priante, Dr. Heyam Al Juma, and Egyptian actress Nelly Karim.

Marwan Hamed's first feature The Yacoubian Building was the gateway to his global success. The film screened in several film festivals such as Berlin Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 where Hamed won The Best New Narrative Filmmaker. Marwan was also part of the movie 18 Days, collection of 10 short films, through his short 1919 and screened at Cannes Film Festival. His latest feature is El Feel El Azrak (The Blue Elephant), which is based on Ahmed Mourad's best-seller book of the title. The film stars Karim Abdel Aziz, Khaled El Sawy, and Nelly Karim, and is one the top-grossing.

Alessandra Priante is a first degree business graduate at the top Italian business University, Università Luigi Bocconi, and holds an International Master in Audiovisual Management, where she concentrated on the managerial, legal and financial aspects of the international and national audiovisual industry, experiencing the film industries of Europe. She then successfully merged her extensive experience in corporate finance and M&A operations with her cultural expertise, joining since 2002 the Italian Ministry of Culture - Direction for Cinema, creating an RSU for the design, set-up and implementation of the most important sector reforms. Alessandra's international experience in this area of the world has recently been coroneted with her appointment as Italian Diplomatic Cultural Representative for the Gulf Area, taking care of promoting Italian culture and education in those areas of the world.

Nelly Karim has first set on the road of stardom as a ballet dancer until her acting talent was discovered by legendary actress Fatan Hamama, which marked a turning point in her cinematic career to be part of an array of important cinema and drama hits. Nelly's silver-screen breakthrough was in Youssef Chahine's Alexandria ... New York, which led to a slew of critically-acclaimed performances in award-winning films such as Cairo 678 with Director and Scriptwriter Mohamed Diab and most recently, The Blue Elephant with director Marwan Hamed.

On the small screen level, Nelly starred in a string of highly-acclaimed TV dramas, such as the TV hit drama Zaat, which aired in Ramadan 2013 and "Sijn Al Nissaa", which aired in Ramadan 2014.

Dr.Heyam Al Juma is an influential media figure in the UAE. She has held various positions spanning the media industry in the UAE, such as Editor-in-Chief of Emirates Today Newspaper, Director of Development Section at Arab Media Group (present), Director of Development Section, Al Bayan Newspaper (present). She's participated in various key regional and global conferences such as Abu Dhabi World Leadership Summit, Women in Media in the UAE, The Arab Media Conference and the Arab Journalism Awards.

Faisal Al Shimmari is the Vice-President of the Ministry of Interior Cinema Awards Committee. As a member of the Quality and Excellence team, he developed the IT policies of the Abu Dhabi Police. His work won the Abu Dhabi Excellence Award for operational and crisis issues and counterterrorism. Al Shimmari manages official communications during major events and is the coordination officer and media representative of the Ministry of the Interior.

The list of the CPA nominees includes 13 films from across 17 countries varying between features, documentaries and shorts, where awards will be granted for the Best film and Best screenplay discussing children safety- related topics calling the public's attention to the victimized, or mistreated or neglected children, and covers the 14 dimensions of child protection. The award entails 100,000 USD for both winning categories.