Greek director Socrates Alafouzos won, for his film "Entre noir et blanc", the Grand Prix of the 13th edition of the Tangier Mediterranean Short Film Festival (FCMMT),
"Entre noir et blanc" by Greek director Socrates Alafouzos won the Grand Prix of the 13th edition of the Tangier Mediterranean Short Film Festival (FCMMT), awarded on Saturday evening during the closing ceremony of this event, organised under the High Patronage of H.M. King Mohammed VI.
The film tells in 15 minutes the story of a man's inner journey to rediscover his forgotten childhood. His memory leads him through several scenes, and his subconscious protects him from the harsh reality, by presenting the past in richly coloured dreamlike sequences.
For its part, the Italian film "Dans le silence" by Lorenzo Ferrante and Matteo Ricca received the Special Jury Prize, while the Directing Prize went to the French film "Bal de famille" by Stella Di Tocco.
The best screenplay prize rewarded the French film "Guy Moquet" by French director Demis Herrenger, while Croatian actors Alexander Seksan and Emir Music won the Best Actor prize ex-aequo for their performances in the film "Pique-nique" by Jure Pavlovic.
The best actress prize went to French actress Pauline Etienne for her role in the film "Bal de famille".
The three special mentions of the jury for this edition went to the Moroccan film "L'attente en 3 actes" by Abdelilah Zirat, for the singular construction of the narrative which denotes, according to the jury's evaluation, a desire for research on the part of the director and his creative potential, to Spanish cinema for the quality of the films presented on all levels, as well as to Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir for her film "Bout-A-Bout", which delivers an important message through the choice of rural cinema.
Speaking on this occasion, the president of the jury, Kouider Bennani, assured that the members of the jury worked in favourable conditions, noting that the filmography presented is on the whole of "good quality".
He thus affirmed that democratic laws and procedures were perfectly respected by the members of the jury in the choice of the winning films.
In this context, Kouider Bennani recommended reducing the number of films in the official competition for future editions, to avoid continuous screening and to allow the jury to better appreciate the content of each film, to limit the representation of each participating country to a maximum of 3 films, and to offer the possibility of sharing a Prize between several applicants.
The jury of this 13th edition also included directors Marie Vermillard (France) and Dima El Hor (Lebanon), Moroccan actress Samia Akariou, Moroccan journalist and film critic Ahmed Araib, Moroccan producer Jaouad Challa, as well as television presenter and film critic Passant Hassan Salamat (Egypt).
Participants in this edition benefited, within the framework of the festival's parallel activities, from a meeting with filmmaker Marie Vermillard, whose filmography alternates between feature films and shorter formats, fiction with classical narration, and hybrid cinematographic writing, mixing a documentary approach, autofiction, or close to artists' videos.
The Festival thus offered the opportunity to question, based on some excerpts from Marie Vermillard's films, the reasons that motivated her choice of the short format: the feeling of urgency, the need to adapt to economic constraints, or the desire to experiment with new forms and other filming methods in complete freedom?.
This edition, organised by the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM), was marked by the participation of 51 films from 19 Mediterranean countries, including Morocco, selected from over 600 candidate films.
The closing ceremony took place in the presence of the Wali of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al-Hoceima region, Governor of the Tangier-Asilah prefecture, Mohamed El Yaakoubi, the Mayor of Tangier, Mohamed Bachir Abdellaoui, as well as directors, filmmakers, and actors from several Mediterranean countries.
