Hend Sabry honoured with Starlight Cinema Award at Venice Film Festival

The Egyptian-Tunisian actress is the first Arab woman to win the award

Hend Sabry has praised the bravery of a 'new generation' of Arab women speaking out against sexual abuse. Getty Images 

Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabry has become the first Arab woman to win a Starlight Cinema Award at the Venice Film Festival.

The award is given out by The Italian Female Journalists Foundation, and Sabry took to Instagram to celebrate the accolade, writing "Today I received the #StarlightCinemaAward, awarded by The Italian Female Journalists Foundation. I am proud to be the first Arab artist to win this award that started in 2014 and has been won by a large number of global stars, including Al Pacino.”

The Starlight Cinema Award honours Sabry's “great talent and outstanding artistic career”.

This year, the actress became the first Arab woman to sit on the judging panel at the Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest film festival.

"I am proud to be one of the jury members of Venice Film Festival and I also feel proud that veteran directors Emir Kustrica and Antoinette Lio will be the jury presidents. I also am happy that this announcement coincides with the release of my movie 'El-Feel-el Azraa 2 (The Blue Elephant) which achieved huge success across the Arab world.

"I hope to be a good ambassador for Arab art at the oldest festival in the world, and one of the three most important festivals in the world," stated Sabry on her official Instagram account ahead of the festival.