HIBAPRESS – Ahmed Al-Musaed
The activities of the International Maghreb Film Festival in Oujda concluded in its fourteenth edition on the evening of Saturday, October 4th, at the Mohammed VI Theater, drawing the curtain on strong competitions among the films participating from the Maghreb countries and globally. The closing night was crowned with the announcement of the winners in the short film and feature film categories, and the honoring of prominent artistic and academic figures.
The short film competition witnessed a clear dominance of Arab films, with the Grand Prize going to the joint Palestinian-Italian-French film "The Result" by director Maha Haj. The same film awarded the great Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance.
As for the Best Actress award, it went to the Moroccan Nadia Kounda for her role in the film "Brothers of Breastfeeding" by Moroccan director Kenza Tazi, which also won the Jury Prize.
Regarding writing creativity, the screenplay award went to Shukri Rouha from Tunisia for the screenplay "Cemetery of Angels". While the Hope Award was given to the Tunisian film "Game of Angels and Devils" by director Mohamed Amin Lakhmiri.
Also, the Egyptian film "Day" by director Karim El-Shenawy achieved the most prominent achievement by winning the Grand Prize for the feature film in the fourteenth edition of the festival.
In the acting awards, the actor Alexander Boyer won the Best Actor award for his role in the film "Fanon", while the Tunisian Fatma Saffar won the Best Actress award for her starring role in the film "Aisha" by director Mehdi Barsaoui.
As for the screenplay award, it was exclusively Moroccan, as it went to the Moroccan film "Wind Tattoo" by director Laila Triki. The Jury Prize was awarded to the Senegalese film "Demba" by director Mamadou Dia. A special mention was given to the joint Algerian-French film "What's Above the Tomb" by director Karim Bensalah.
The closing ceremony was not limited to the distribution of awards, but was a station for recognizing distinguished artistic and academic paths. Where the Moroccan actress, Ibtissam El-Aroussi, and the Moroccan academic researcher and son of Oujda, Dr. Badr Al-Maqri, were honored.
