Organised by the Kenitra Film Club, this edition will be held on the theme "Together to save the Palace cinema". The choice of theme is not fortuitous. It comes at a time when film lovers in the city are witnessing, powerless, the demolition of the Riad cinema hall, after the disappearance of the mythical Fantasio hall replaced by a building, the transformation of the Tanagra hall into a garage for vehicles and the Atlas into a commercial area. The Ittihad cinema hall will inevitably meet the same tragic fate, since it was recently put up for sale. "The last hope that remained for film lovers, theatre enthusiasts and culture lovers is the Palace cinema. This space is registered as historical heritage by the Ministry of Culture", underlines a press release from the Kenitra Film Club. For lack of film projection halls, the festival organisers were forced to organise it in the large conference hall of the City Hall. During a press conference, the President of the Festival, Mokhtar Ait Omar, expressed his deep regrets for the lack of interest that the urban commune of the city and certain private companies show for this cinematographic event, which is otherwise highly appreciated by Moroccan filmmakers. He, however, welcomed the aid granted, this year, by the Film Festival Subsidy Commission, while expressing the wish that this subsidy be improved for future editions.

Mr Ait Omar also welcomed the aid granted by the regional council, the provincial council as well as the goodwill of the city of Kenitra. The official competition of the eighth edition will be characterised by the screening of 21 short films, all released in 2013-2014. The jury, chaired by the Moroccan director Kamal Kamal, is composed of Zhor Gourram (novelist and literary critic), Lina Mourad (Syrian filmmaker residing in Paris), Mohamed Chellouf (Tunisian director and artistic director of the film meetings of Hergla, in Tunisia) and Farid Zahi (film critic and teacher-researcher). This edition will also be illustrated by tributes that will be paid to the actress Naïma Lamcharki, for all of her theatrical and cinematographic work and to the Moroccan director Latif Lahlou. The screening of his short film entitled "Sine Akfaye" (the two channels in Amazigh, 1967) will take place. A report retracing his cinematographic career as a pioneer of the seventh art in Morocco will be screened during the opening ceremony. Another tribute will be paid, during the same evening, to the Moroccan directors Hicham Regragui and Driss Gaïdi, guests of honour of the festival (Grand Prize of the fifteenth edition of the Tangier Short Film Festival last February). After Algeria, represented by the association organising the Bejaia Film Days, guest of honour of the previous edition, the festival will celebrate Tunisian cinema this year with the screening of four short films by young Tunisian directors: "Towards the North" by Youssef Chebbi, "Lamboura" by Nadia Raies, "The Shoes of the Aied" by Anis Lassoued and "Glue Skin" by Kaouther Ben Hania. On the menu are also a master class (open debate) in the presence of director Latif Lahlou and press conferences to debate the films in competition, in the presence of their directors.

The Sebou Short Film Festival of Kenitra constitutes the ideal opportunity to recall quite obviously that the expected economic development is dependent on cultural and artistic promotion.