The 16th Mediterranean Short Film Festival of Tangiers took place in Morocco from October 1st to 6th. 44 films representing 18 Mediterranean countries had been selected for the official competition, and, to mark its 16th anniversary, the organisers created a new section – “Festival Guest”, this year highlighting French short films.
For film professionals there was an international conference on “The challenges of short films, from production to distribution” during which the issues and difficulties related to this film format were discussed. The general public, meanwhile, had the chance to see the short films in competition, with the screenings enhanced by discussions. They were also able to attend a film lesson given by the Moroccan director Mohamed Mouftakir.
Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic was awarded the Grand Prix for her film Into the Blue, a Serbo-Croatian co-production about a teenage girl and her mother fleeing the family home. Moroccan films were not left out, since one of the 4 Moroccan short films selected, Imad Badi’s Jour d’automne, received the Jury Prize. The jury president, British film-maker and photographer Tala Hadia, said that “the films were all high quality with great thematic diversity.”
Sources: Maroc diplomatique, 2M
