SFF Honors Young Egyptian Filmmaker

The award was presented by British actress Charlotte Rampling during a gala ceremony at the National Theatre in Sarajevo on Thursday night.

Established in honor of the eponymous British actress who died in 2002, the bursary award is given every year to a new cinematic voice that reflects the integrity and spirit of independent filmmaking.

"Katrin always expressed support for independent cinema and directors who present their visions in an original way," Rampling said.

As part of the award presentation, the audience watched a three-minute excerpt from Lotfy's feature debut, "The Stroke."

Before the ceremony, members of the cast and crew of the Slovenian movie "A Trip," the final entry in the feature film competition, walked the red carpet. Actress Nina Rakovec drew the most attention from an enthusiastic crowd.

Loud cheers and applause also greeted movie star Michael Fassbender and an old friend of the festival, Irish screenwriter and director Terry George.

Lotfy studied filmmaking at the Cairo Film Institute, where she made four documentaries and two short fiction films before graduating with honors in 1999. In 2005, her first feature documentary, "On Feeling Cold," received a Special Jury prize at the National Film Festival in Egypt. It was awarded a Golden Hawke at the Rotterdam Arabic Film Festival that same year, and won a Best Screenplay award at the Pyongyang Film Festival in 2006.

Lotfy went on to work with Al-Jazeera’s documentary channel, making seven TV documentaries in a series called "Arabs of Latin America." After returning to Egypt, she collaborated with a civil rights organization on a documentary about the sale of Egyptian assets to the Saudis.

She then began writing "The Stroke," an independent project financed with the help of a small grant. Shooting was interrupted by the revolution in Egypt earlier this year, but resumed a week ago. Lofty said that she would use the award money to complete post-production on the film.

Also speaking at the award ceremony was SFF Director Mirsad Purivatra, who said, "The short life of Katrin Cartlidge is an inspiration to young filmmakers around the world.”

He took note of a previous award-winner who attended this year's festival.

"The best proof of the importance of this foundation is director Cary Fukunaga, whose new film 'Jane Eyre,' staring Michal Fassbender, was shown in the open-air cinema,” Purivatra said.

The Katrin Cartlidge Foundation award was first given in 2004. Along with Fukunaga, other previous winners include Greg Hall, Amy Neil, Eyas Salman, Faruk Šabanovic and Juanita Wilson.