Arab News | Amir El-Masry to lead BFI London Film Festival jury

DUBAI: British Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry has been named president of the jury for the Sutherland Award at the 70th BFI London Film Festival, which runs from Oct. 7 to 18.

The award honors the winner of the festival’s First Feature Competition. El-Masry will be joined on the jury by Filipino film producer Alemberg Ang and film sales and distribution executive Rosa Bosch.

The appointment comes amid a busy run of screen projects for the actor, who won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in “Limbo” and was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit in 2020.

The second season of “The Agency,” in which he stars alongside Michael Fassbender, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jeffrey Wright and Richard Gere, has premiered on Paramount+.

He has also joined the Apple TV+ series “Metropolis,” adapted from Philip Kerr’s “Berlin Noir” novels and starring Colin Firth, and is currently filming “El Safaah,” written by Engy Abou El-Saoud and directed by Hady El-Bagoury.

His latest film, “The Stories,” is in cinemas after winning the Golden Tanit for Best Film at the Carthage Film Festival and screening in competition at the Red Sea International Film Festival. It has also been selected as Egypt’s entry for Best International Feature at the 2027 Oscars.

El-Masry also stars opposite Pierce Brosnan in “Giant,” inspired by the story of British Yemeni boxer Prince Naseem Hamed, which opened the fifth Red Sea International Film Festival.

At last year’s BFI London Film Festival, screenings of both “Giant” and “100 Nights of Hero” sold out ahead of the festival’s opening.