15 feature films (drama and documentary) and 15 short films were in competition at the 16th Tangier National Film Festival (FNF), held from last February 20th to 28th. Given the volume of films produced in Morocco, the Organizing Committee decided to limit the number of feature films in competition to fifteen. Sarim Fassi Fihri, head of the Centre Cinématographique Marocain and chairman of the festival’s organizing committee, created a pre-selection committee to choose the 15 feature films. Both the Grand Prix and the Critics’ Award went to Moroccan-Iraqi director Tala Hadid, for his first feature film “La Nuit entr’ouverte”. The 15 short films were selected from 54 sent in to the committee chaired by film-maker Azelarabe Alaoui. Alaa Eddin Aljem’s “Les poissons du désert” won both the Grand Prix and the Critics Award for Best Short Film. The winners can be found here.
The screenings were interspersed with three round tables, all on subjects important to Morocco’s film industry: “Making good use of advance on earnings”, “Tax incentives for film and broad-cast production in the world” and “Spanish-Moroccan co-productions: Progress and Prospects” in which the need to encourage co-productions was discussed by people working in the Moroccan and Spanish film industry. There were also forums and parallel activities, and a review of the films made in Morocco last year. Sarim Fassi Fihri announced record investment in film and television productions made in Morocco in 2014: about 1.17 billion dirhams was generated by foreign productions, compared with 220.90 million dirhams in 2013. He made it clear this increase is due to Morocco’s political stability compared with other countries in the region, plus the existence of a real film industry.
Finally, a tribute was paid to two veterans of Moroccan cinema: actress Malika El Omari and film critic Mohamed Gallaoui.
Sources: libe.ma, lejournaldetanger.com, lematin.ma et les communiqués du CCM
