Sami Bouajila to receive DIFF’s Arab Lifetime Achievement Award

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) will award this year’s Arab Lifetime Achievement Award to French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila. The actor is set to receive the accolade amongst the Arab and international film community at the 12^th edition of DIFF, 9-16 December 2015.

Bouajila is an internationally acclaimed actor whose impressive filmography spans three decades and boasts an incredible forty titles. He is renowned for his eclectic range of starring roles and is best known for his award-winning performances in Les Temoins for which he won the Cesar Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2008, and Indigenes where he received the award for Best Male Interpretation at the 2006 Cannes film festival. His award-winning legacy dates back to 2000 when he was named Best Young Actor for Drole de Felix at Festival du film romantique de Cabourg. The 49 year-old has come a long way since his first acting role, working his way into the leading role for the 2011 French crime-drama Omar Killed Me, where he plays a falsely accused gardener convicted of murdering his elderly employer.

DIFF’s Chairman, Abdulhamid Juma remarked on the importance of recognising those who have dedicated their lives to cinema: “Sami Bouajila’s film career is a testament to the medium of film, he is admired by audiences around the world for his diverse and compelling choices in film roles throughout his extraordinary career. We are delighted to honour his talents with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival this December.”

Sami Bouajila expressed his happiness upon receiving the news of winning the Lifetime Achievement Award from Dubai International Film Festival, and said: “I am thrilled and honored to receive the Dubai International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and very much looking forward to meeting film industry members of the region.”

DIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Awards are dedicated to honouring the world’s greatest film industry actors, writers, directors and producers. Previous honouree’s include Omar Sharif, Faten Hamamah, Adel Imam, Jameel Rateb, Sabah, Morgan Freeman, Sean Penn, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Daoud Abdel Sayed, Youssef Chahine, Rachid Bouchareb, Souleymane Cisse, Nabil El-Maleh, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Terry Gilliam, Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Michael Apted, and Mahmoud Abdel Aziz.