The FIDADOC (Agadir International Documentary Festival) celebrates its 9th year from May 8th to 13th, putting the spotlight on an unparalleled number of African films in the international competition.
10 feature-length films from 16 countries are part of the selection shown to the public. Six of them were produced or co-produced by an African country. Having already won awards at many festivals, Tala Hadid’s “Tigmi N Igren” (Morocco / Qatar) was chosen to open the festival. The film shows the daily life of a remote Amazigh community in the south western Atlas mountains.
Other films from the Mediterranean are competing for the Grand Prix Nouzha Drissi. In “Ambulance” (Palestine / Norway), Mohamed Jabaly recounts his own experiences as an ambulance driver during the 2014 Gaza bombings. Djamel Kerkar’s “Atlal” (Algeria / France) gets first-hand accounts from the inhabitants of an Algerian village ravaged during the 1991-99 civil war or Black Decade. Finally, “Dil Leyla” (Germany / Turkey) follows Leyla Imret, 26 year-old mayor of Cizre, a small town in Turkey at the heart of Kurdish resistance.
The films in competition will be viewed by a jury composed of Maria Daïf (Moroccan director of the Espace Culturel L’Uzine), Jérôme Le Maire (Belgian author-director), Virginie Linhart (French author-director), Moncef Taleb (Tunisian sound engineer and producer) and Awa Traoré (Malian author-director and producer).
FIDADOC has created a new section for short films, with the best chosen by a student jury. In addition the festival is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jean Rouch, French film-maker and ethnologist, by showing 7 of his films and organising 2 master-classes. There will also be special sessions for schoolchildren and students, concerts and screenings in a dozen cities in the Souss Massa region.
Lastly, FIDADOC is organizing the 6th Ruche Documentaire, giving some 60 Moroccan and African students the chance to obtain a professional opinion on their film projects. In cooperation with the festival Les 3 Continents, the organizers are also launching a new workshop: Produire au Sud “Agadir-Sahara”, with the aim of helping young directors and producers get international co-production.
Click here to find the festival’s full programme.
