Lebanese director Nadine Labaki was one of scores of regional entertainment stars honoured at last night’s Murex d'Or Awards.
Held in Beirut, the annual ceremony heralds the achievements of the Arab world’s music, film and television industries over the past 12 months, in addition to paying tribute to international stars whose work made an impact in parts of the region.
Labaki won the Best Director Award for her acclaimed film Capernaum.
The 2018 politically charged drama has previously been nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe, and the director told The National last month that legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg called it one of the best films he'd seen last year.
The music winners
Another big winner on the night was Egyptian pop star Tamer Hosny. Fresh from performing at the closing ceremony of the Special Olympics Abu Dhabi World Games at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium recently, he was in Beirut to receive the award for Best Male Arab Singer.
This is down to the success of a string of singles over the last year. His latest track, Naseny Leh, amassed nearly 30 million views on his YouTube channel in just two weeks. The song came from his big-selling album Aish Beshouak.
Lebanon’s Carole Samaha, who recently performed at Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, won the Best Female Arab Singer for her well-received singles and live performances.
Also heading to the podium was Lebanese pop star Melhem Zain, who won three awards for his patriotic song Helim Al Ard, including Best Vocals and Best National Song.
Veteran Lebanese poet Tony Abi Karam picked up the Best Lyricist Award while Bawdi Na’oum won the Best Composer gong.
Lebanese television shines
With the exception of Labaki’s film, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes festival last year, most of the awards at the Murex d'Or concerned local Lebanese television productions.
Abed Fahad won Best Actor for the television drama Tareeq, while Ward el Khal won Best Actress for Thawrat Al Falaheen.
The latter was one of two series sharing the Best Drama award - the other was 2018 Ramadan serial Tango starring Bassel Khayyat and Dana Mardini.
International stars
The Murex d'Or Awards also extended their gratitude to a pair of international stars for their respective bodies of work.
Turkish actor Can Yaman won Best International Actor for his starring role in the Turkish drama Erkenci Kus, while Swiss-French actor Vincent Perez (Cyrano de Bergerac, Le Bossu and La Reine Margot) won a Lifetime Achievement award.
