FRANCE / 21st PriMed: a week of free screenings!

PriMed, the Festival of the Mediterranean in images, celebrates its 21^st year from the 19^th to the 25^th of November in Marseille. A week of excellent Mediterranean documentaries, full of surprises – take a look at the programme.

Created in 1994, PriMed (Prix International du Documentaire et du Reportage Méditerranéen) presents every year in Marseille the best documentaries about current issues, history and life in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean.

For this 21st year, 25 documentaries, television reports and web-documentaries from 11 countries are being presented free of charge to the public, with 30 hours of screenings at the Bibliothèque de l’Alcazar and at Mucem. Half the films are being shown for the first time in France. Discussions with the directors follow most of the screenings.

For the complete programme: click here

Major issues
One of the principal issues in this year’s selection is the situation in Syria, but there is also the migration crisis, the place of women, dance as a social and political marker, and work as cultural and historical heritage. Other films look at Italy’s history, the golden age of Algerian diplomacy, child trafficking during the Franco period, the consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, military service in Turkey, or life in a working-class area of Sardinia.

Audience Award
The festival opens at Mucem on Sunday, November 19^th from 3pm to 5:30pm, with an afternoon dedicated to the Audience Award. The public will decide which of the 5 short films screened is their favourite.

A week of screenings
The screenings continue from Tuesday 21^st to Friday 24^th November at the Bibliothèque de l’Alcazar (see programme). Most showings are followed by a discussion with the director or the producer. Every film will be shown in its French version or with French sub-titles.

Award ceremony
The winners of the 21st PriMed will be announced on the evening of Friday, November 24^th after the Award Ceremony, which will start at 5pm in the Villa Méditerranée, in the presence of the jury and the film-makers. The ceremony is a festive event celebrating the Mediterranean, eased along to the music of Marseille group, Radio Babel.

Presentation of the award-winning films
The winning films will be screened again on Saturday November 25^th at the Bibliothèque de l’Alcazar from 11am to 2pm. The programme will be available as from Friday evening at www.primed.tv.

Free entry for all PriMed events, depending on availability of places.

The jury
The jury of the 21^st PriMed are:

• Mathieu GUIDERE, writer and expert on Islam (Jury chair)

• Fettouma BENHAIMOUD, head of documentary purchasing, production and co-production at 2M

• Carine BRATZLAVSKY, head of theatre and scenic arts at RTBF

• Tahar CHIKHAOUI, academic, film critic, chair of Archipels Images

• Houria KHATIR, head of specialist analysis to the EPTV’s managing director

• Zouhir LOUASSINI, journalist and editorialist

Follow PriMed on the official web-site, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

PriMed, the Festival of the Mediterranean in images
From November 19^th to 25^th 2017, Marseille
Bibliothèque de l’Alcazar: 58 cours Belsunce, 13001 Marseille
Mucem / Villa Méditerranée: Esplanade du J4, 13002 Marseille
PriMed is organised by the Centre Méditerranéen de la Communication Audiovisuelle (CMCA), and co-organised by France Télévisions, Rai and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU).