Honorees
The Red Sea: Honoree Award represents our unwavering desire to crown creativity in cinema by selecting an annual list of honorees; prominent cinematic figures and icons who contributed to shaping the history of cinema as we know it today, and immortalized it in the hearts of the masses. The award expresses great respect and appreciation on the part of the Festival for those with profound cinematic contributions from all over the world.
The Second Edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival is Pleased to Honor:
Yousra
She is Egypt’s most renowned multi-faceted celebrity, a true icon. She has been gracing the silver screen for more than 40 years now, with some 140 titles including films, Tv series, plays, and radio series to her name. Since the 1970s, Yousra has starred in some of the most important films in the history of Egyptian cinema, was named one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women by Arabian Business magazine for three years, and was selected as a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (The Oscars®) in recognition of her rich cinematic history.
Yousra played significant roles in several films and appeared in 4 of Youssef Chahine’s films: AN EGYPTIAN STORY (1982), ALEXANDRIA: AGAIN AND FOREVER (1990), THE EMIGRANT (1994), and ALEXANDRIA… NEW YORK (2004). Famously, she formed a duo with the legendary superstar Adel Emam in 17 films that enjoyed sweeping box-office success including THE ADVOCATE (1983), TERRORISM AND KABAB (1992), ALMANSI (1993), BIRDS OF DARKNESS (1995), and THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING (2006). Variety magazine characterized Yousra’s performance in YACOUBIAN as “effortlessly evoking old romantic memories when she sings La Vie en Rose.”
She also starred alongside renowned international Egyptian actor Omar El-Sharif and superstar Amr Diab in LAUGHTER, GAMES, SERIOUSNESS AND LOVE (1993).
Among the films in which she starred, 4 were chosen among the list of top 100 Films in the history of Egyptian Cinema, by the Cairo International Film Festival in 1996.
Moreover, 3 of her films were added to the list of 100 Best Arab Films by the Dubai international film festival in 2013. While 2 other films were named one of the 100 Most Significant Women Films in 2021 by the Aswan International Women Film Festival.
Yousra has headed the juries of the Carthage Film Festival (1994) and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (2010), and the Cairo International Film Festival (2014), and was a jury member at Mostra de València and the Marrakech International Film Festival (2014).
Since 2002, Yousra’s TV series was always “a must see” during the highest TV season in Ramadan. Many of her series had an impact on social causes such as A PUBLIC OPINION CASE (2007) which helped to change the public mind-set regarding rape victims.
Throughout her artistic career, Yousra has been the recipient of more than 80 local, regional and international awards, most prominently at Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), Carthage Film Festival, Beirut International Film Festival, in addition to the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris, along with many certificates of appreciation and honours. In 2015, she was awarded the Achievement in Cinema Award at the Arab Women of the Year ceremony in London.
She is currently a goodwill ambassador for several United Nations institutions, including the United Nations Development Programme, UNAIDS, and the joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS. She has participated in the World Economic Forum’s sessions in Switzerland, Jordan, and Egypt, and she joined the board of trustees Kemet Boutros Ghali Foundation for Peace and Knowledge (KBG), the International Advisory Board of the El Gouna Film Festival, and was the honorary president of the CIFF in 2017.
Shah Rukh Khan
Legendary superstar, actor, and producer Shah Rukh Khan, fondly called King Khan, is the undisputed King of Bollywood and undoubtedly one of the most successful film stars in the world. With over three decades in the film industry and featuring more than 100 films, Khan has crafted an extraordinary career in India and around the world, having earned multiple awards and accolades for his efforts.
The iconic Indian actor and producer Shah Rukh Khan will receive an Honorary Award to recognize his exceptional contribution to the film industry at the opening ceremony of the Festival’s second edition in Jeddah, on the Eastern shore of the Red Sea.
Guy Ritchie
Ritchie is one of those rare directors whose 1998 debut film, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, changed the cinematic landscape. It was a fresh and outlandish take on the British crime caper, which had a machine gun staccato and quotable dialogue. No wonder Brad Pitt came calling, delivering a knockout performance in the smash hit Snatch. In his early years, Ritchie’s CV was populated with subversive capers (Revolver and RocknRolla), but he has since gone on to bigger and, arguably, more extraordinary things.
He reinvented Sherlock Holmes, casting Robert Downey Jr. as the Baker Street Detective in two smash hit films, and his live-action take on Disney’s Aladdin is one of the highest-grossing films of all -time. These films are just the tip of a spectacular iceberg. Ritchie was also behind Swept Away, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, The Gentleman, and most recently, Wrath of Man. It’s been an outstanding 25 years for the director, with, as we shall hear, many more to come.
