Fortress Film Clinic has announced that the film project The Bridge (El Kobri) is the winner of its Fortress Film Clinic Award at Dubai Film Connection (DFC). A joint collaboration between director Hala Lotfy and producer Mohamed Samir, the film project competed for the company's 15,000 USD cash prize against 11 other film projects within the 12th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) (9-16 December). The award was presented by Producer Mohamed Hefzy and Fortress Capital Investments Managing Partner Hamed Mokhtar.

Fortress Film Clinic's film The Idol was also announced as the winner of the Audience Award at the closing ceremony of DIFF, making it the film's first award. Directed by Hany Abu-Assad, the film is produced in collaboration with producers Ali Jafar and Amira Diab in addition to a number of production companies including MBC Group.

Fortress Film Clinic is a partnership between Hefzy's production company Film Clinic and Fortress Capital Investments in Dubai which was first announced at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Furthermore, Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy took part at DIFF with other two film productions which competed at the Muhr Feature Films Competition namely; Before the Summer Crowds by Mohamed Khan and The Curve by Riqi Assaf. Both films landed world premieres at the festival and are produced by Film Clinic.

Heralding a promising future for Arab and international co-productions, the two films involved Hefzy with different production partners. Before the Summer Crowds is produced by Hefzy in collaboration with Wael Omar (Middle West Films) and Hani Osama (The Producers). Hefzy also collaborated with Jordanian producer Rula Nasser on the production of The Cruve.

Hefzy was also listed as a guest speaker at the Connection's panel discussion 'How to Find a Producer? (And Why You Really Need One?)', which aims at helping young filmmakers with scripts pitch their film projects and approach producers.

As part of Film Clinic's strategy in supporting the Arab film industry, Hefzy is always keen on taking part in DIFF's various events. His film Microphone previously won the Best Editor - Feature Award in the festival's 6th edition. Film Clinic also presented its own filmmaking award at the Dubai Film Connection for the Best Debut Feature Project. Among the winning projects was I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced by director Khadija Al-Salami, which later won the Best Muhr Fiction Feature at the festival's 11th edition.