The 21st edition of the Tetouan International Mediterranean Film Festival will be held from 28 March to 4 April 2015, with the participation of 16 countries from the Mediterranean rim, the organisers announced.

This Mediterranean meeting of the 7th art, organised by the city of Tetouan, offers the opportunity for participating countries to promote their cinematographies and compete in the Official Competition for all genres (feature and short fiction films and documentaries), they stressed in a statement.

On the sidelines of the Competition, cinema lovers will have an appointment with unreleased films as part of the "Panorama" programme, and films that have marked the history of Mediterranean cinema, presented as part of the "Retrospective" programme.

"To complete this pleasant bouquet, the public and festival-goers will be invited to savour unforgettable works and admire the exploits of artists, leading figures of the cinematographic heritage of the Mare Nostrum," the statement notes, specifying that as a reward, the Festival will pay well-deserved tributes to "all these women and all these men, actors, directors, and producers, to whom Mediterranean cinema owes a great deal".

In addition to the screenings that will take place at the Avenida and Teatro Espanol cinemas, the French Institute and the House of Culture halls, and other spaces in the Tangier-Tetouan region, the Festival has concocted a rich and diversified cultural programme for its public.

It notably includes a symposium on the theme "Cinema and audiovisual media", a round table on the theme "Cinema, city and environment", organised in partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Policy, and another on "Moroccan cinema and the challenges of production", initiated in partnership with the Moroccan Chamber of Producers. The Festival management invites directors wishing to participate in this edition to register on the Festival website (www.festivaltetouan.org) and to send their works before 31 January 2015.