The first Casablanca Arab Film Festival was held from December 10th to 15th in the Ritz, Rialto and Rif cinemas. The festival offered Moroccan audiences a rich programme, with 8 films in competition and two broader overviews: one on Moroccan and the other on Arab films. In addition to screenings, the festival offered two master classes for Casablanca’s students, film-buffs and cinema-goers. They dealt with writing a screenplay and film music.
Chaired by Egyptian director Ahmed Rachedi, the jury awarded three prizes to Marwan Hamed’s sixth feature, Diamond Dust: the Grand Prix, the Best Director Award – and the Best Actor Award for Maged El Kedwany. Algerian director Yasmine Chouikh’s feature Until the End of Time won the Jury Prize, while Best Screenplay went to an Iraqi film, Mohamed Al Daraji’s The Journey. Finally, the award for Best Female Actor went to Moroccan actress Nadia Kounda for her performance in Faouzi Bensaïdi’s Volubilis.
“The fact there wasn’t a festival of Arab film in the programme of Morocco’s film festivals is very surprising,” said Fatema Nouali Azar, chair of the event’s organiser, Imtidad. “Especially in a city like Casablanca where many national and international productions are shot. That’s why we decided to set up this festival with Arab cinema as its theme.”
Sources: http://www.2m.ma , https://www.libe.ma
