At the 45th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which will take place from November 15–24 at the Cairo Opera House, the acclaimed actor Ahmed Ezz will receive the Faten Hamama Award for Excellence.
At the 2023 edition, Egyptian actor Ahmed Ezz will receive the Faten Hamama Award for Excellence from the Cairo International Film Festival.
Ezz, 51, was chosen “in appreciation of what he presented throughout his artistic career that began at the end of the nineties,” according to a statement released by the CIFF on Sunday.
“We are interested in encouraging artists who have presented a lot to Egyptian cinema,” commented the CIFF President Hussein Fahmy adding, “we are so glad of this honouring ceremony to come, and we surely wish him success in what comes next.”
The CIFF Director Amir Ramses described Ezz as “an artist who ventured a lot, presenting different genres of films than those that used to top the box office, especially since comedies have been at the forefront of the box office for so many years.”
“Ezz was able to achieve great success, beginning with his cooperation with director Sandra Nashat and his work with the great director Sherif Arafa in more than one film, as well as the great director Marwan Hamed, and I truly believe that he is a distinctive artist in his choices and deserves this award for sure,” Ramses added.
The actor expressed his thanks for the honor and saw it as a timely message of inspiration for his future professional decisions because he felt he still had more to contribute to the world of art.
“Granting me this award is a message that approached me at the right time to encourage me to build a better future and career choices,” stated Ahmed Ezz, adding, “I have not presented everything I dream of yet.”
After working as a model and in the hospitality sector, Ahmed Ezz began his film career in 2001 with appearances in El-Sharaf and Night Talk before making his breakthrough in the contentious Enas El Degheidy film A Teenager’s Diary. Ezz is an arts faculty graduate of Ain Shams University.
Ahmed Ezz’s career took off after appearing in well-known movies including Day of Dignity by Ali Abdel-Khaleq, Sana Oula Nasb by Kamla Abou Zekry, and Girls in Love by Khaled Al-Hajar. With Sandra Nashat’s 2005 film Malaky Alexandria, he became a household name at the box office.
On important movies like The Hostage (2006), Transit Prisoner (2008), and Al Maslaha (2012), Ezz worked alongside Sandra Nashat. Additionally, he collaborated with filmmakers Amr Arafa on The Ghost (2007) and Dream of Aziz (2012), Ahmed Alaa El-Deeb on Badal Faked (2009) and Al-Aref (2021), and Saeed El-Marouk on 365 Days of Happiness.
Together with Tarek El-Arian, Ezz created a fruitful musical collaboration that produced successes including Awlad Rizk (2015), Awlad Rizk 2 (2017), and The Cell (2018).
Ezz cemented his fame by portraying the War of Attrition heroes in Sherif Arafa’s 2019 film The Passage. With Arafa, he continued to work together in The Crime (2022).
With multiple box office records-breaking movies, including the most recent Kira & El-Gin (2022), directed by Marwan Hamed, Ezz has irrevocably changed the Egyptian cinema industry.
The CIFF occupies a significant position as the oldest and most frequent film festival in the Arab world and Africa. Additionally, it is the only festival in the Arab and African continents that has been approved by the International Federation of Producers (FIAPF) for category A status.