Yahya Alabdallah’s drama The Last Friday [pictured] and Eliane Raheb’s documentary Confession And Struggle have walked away with the Cinema In Motion awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The Cinema In Motion awards are for films nearing completion from the Maghreb, Portuguese-speaking African countries and developing Arab countries.

The Last Friday, about a divorced man in Jordan who desperately tries to find money from his local community to have an operation, will receive €5,000 towards the post production in France from the CNC, €15,000 towards sound mixing work at Mac ‘Tari in Paris, and €2,500 towards subtitling from Titra TVS, as well as a 35mm print.

Confession And Struggle follows the impact of the Lebanese Civil War from the perspective of two people, one who killed several people in the war and is seeking redemption, and the other a woman searching for her missing son. The film will receive €5,000 towards the post production costs and a 35mm print.

The other two films competing were Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas’ Une Fusee Dans Le Ciel (France-Lebanon) and Annemarie Jacir’s When I Saw You (Jordan-Palestine).

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