The 4th North African Short Film Festival, organized by “Ciné Maghreb”, was held from April 7th to 11th in Oujda at the Théâtre Mohammed VI on the theme “North African cinema: between culture and future development”. Among the 24 short films in competition, the short film “Passage à niveau” (Level Crossing) by Algerian director Anis Djaad won two awards: Best Director and the Award of the Moroccan National Federation of Film Societies. Rachid Ben Allal, the film’s principal actor, received the Best Actor Award for his role as an ageing gatekeeper responsible day and night for the safety of a level crossing. The arrival of a letter changes his life. The Grand Prix was awarded to “La nuit de la lune aveugle” (Night of the blind moon) by Tunisian director Khadija Lemkacher and the jury prize was awarded to “Voyage dans la boite” (Journey in the box) by Moroccan director Amine Sabir.
This year’s festival paid posthumous tribute to the film critic and teacher Mohamed Dahan. The guest of honour this year was the Lebanon, with a retrospective of the various Lebanese cinema genres. In addition to screenings of short films, a discussion on the “North African cinema: between culture and future development” and workshops punctuated the event.
Sources: libe.ma, lemag.ma, leconomiste.com, ads.dz et cinematunisien.com
