Cairo International Film Festival grants "Ahmed Ezz" (Faten Hamama Award for Excellence), during its 45th session, to be held from 15-24 November 2023, in appreciation of what he presented throughout his artistic career that began since the end of the nineties.
Hussein Fahmy, head of the Cairo Film Festival, commenting on honoring Ezz, saying: “Ahmed Ezz shall receive (Faten Hamama Award), recognizing his distinguished career in cinema, as we are interested in encouraging artists who have presented a lot to Egyptian cinema, and we are so glad of this honoring ceremony to come, and we surely wish him success in what comes next.”
Director Amir Ramses, director of festival, announced: “I am rather glad of choosing such distinguished artist, Ahmed Ezz, to receive award of (Faten Hamama Award), for his success during the past years in building a great artistic career, and as an artist who ventured a lot presenting a different genres of films than those that used to top the box office, especially that comedies have been at the forefront of 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 Sharif 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.”
Ahmed Ezz himself commented saying: “When Mr. Hussein Fahmy spoke to me about choosing me to receive the award from Cairo Film Festival, I was very happy, because he is a great artist who I have for long admired what he presented to cinema, and he is my role model. I also was honored to receive that award granted by the prestigious Cairo International Film Festival, in the presence of the great artist Hussein Fahmy.
Ezz continued his speech, saying: “Granting me this award itself is a message that approached me at the right time to encourage me build a better future and career choices, because I really believe that I have not presented everything I dream of yet. I started my close relationship with Cairo Festival began since my early days as an actor, as I consider it to be a great opportunity to meet filmmakers, it’s a very important event that gives value to the artist as well as cinema industry, and I hope that granting me this honor will be the beginning of a new career path that shall exceed what I have presented to cinema so far.
Ahmed Ezz studied English at the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University, then worked in the hospitality field, after which he moved to fashion shows, and his interest in cinema began at a later stage, as his roles began to attract attention in films such as “Al Sharaf” by Sherif Shaaban, and “Night Talk – Kalam Al leel" directed by Enas El Degheidy.
But those roles did not satisfy his cinematic passion, until the real beginning came through the movie "A Teenager’s Diary" by Enas El-Deghaidy in 2001, yet it sparked strong waves of controversy at the time of its premiere on cinemas. On the other hand, it guaranteed "Ezz" the opportunity he needed to make his way through his cinema career. In 2004 he presented 4 cinematic films, the most important of which is “Girls in Love” by director Khaled Al-Hajar. Ezz won an award for Best Actor in supporting Role from Tenth National Festival of Egyptian Cinema for this movie. He also co starred the movie “Sana Oula Nasb” with director Kamela Abu Dhikri, and “Day of Dignity” with director Ali Abdel-Khaleq.
"Ahmed Ezz" started his way to starring roles, and he presented the movie "Mlaky Alexandria" in 2005 with director Sandra Nashat, which marked the beginning of a stage of cooperation with Nashat in several films, including "The Hostage" in 2006, "Transit Prisoner" in 2008. He also cooperated with director Amr Arafa in "The Ghost”, for which he won Best Actor Award for the year 2007, and he also presented the movie “Badal Faked” with director Ahmed Alaa El Deeb in 2009.
In 2011, Ezz presented the movie “365 Days of Happiness” with the Lebanese director Saeed Al-Marouk in his first cinematic experience, and in 2012 Ezz starred two films: “Al Maslaha” with director Sandra Nashat, after 5 years of their last movie together. He starred the movie “Dream of Aziz”, in which he returned to work with director Amr Arafa again, while in 2015 he presented the movie “The Party” with director Ahmed Alaa El Deeb.
He also presented 3 films with director Tariq Al-Arian, which is the movie “Awlad Rizk” in 2015 and the second part of it in 2019. In 2017, he presented the movie “The Cell”, and for his role in this movie, Ezz won the Best Actor Award at Arab Film Awards “Oscar” for the year 2018.
At the beginning of 2019, Ezz presented the movie “The Passage” about the heroics of the War of Attrition, which was his first collaboration with the great director Sherif Arafa, and in 2021, he presented the movie “Al-Aref” with Ahmed Alaa El-Deeb, and he returned to cooperate again with “Arafa” through the movie “The Crime” in 2022, and in the same year he presented the movie “Kira Wal Jinn” with director Marwan Hamed, in their first collaboration.
From 2019 to this day, Ahmed Ezz presented 5 films in Egyptian cinema. Those exact films collected 385 million pounds as a revenue, which is a record that no Egyptian artist reached during that period or in previous periods. Those 5 movies were, “The Corridor” and “Awlad Rizk 2” and “Al-Aref,” “The Crime,” and finally, “Kira Wal Jinn.”
Cairo International Film Festival is the oldest and most regular festival in Arab world and Africa, and it receives its rather unique nature as it’s the only festival in Arab and African region registered under category A of the International Federation of Producers in Brasilis, France, FIAPF.