Lebanese Elie Dagher stars in “The Sea Before You” (Pascal Le Segretin/Getty)
After a hypothetical session, and another absent in another year because of Corona epidemic, the “Tetouan International Festival of Mediterranean Cinema” will organize its 27th session between 10-17 June 2022. After the virtual session, the organizers of the festival confirmed that “the natural space for showing films (remains) cinemas”, especially as it is a necessary event for the city, which is famous for being a tourist , and its cultural depth and civilizational legacy. Continuing to organize it gives its people the opportunity to get acquainted with the latest productions and modern aesthetic suggestions in the field of the seventh art, and makes its youth, according to the organizers, “liberate” from technological devices and their pressures, and get closer to the magic of Cinemaand its attractive and questionable worlds.
All this is evident from the festival’s invitation to them to participate in workshops, trainings and lectures, “(perhaps) convince them that cinema is not only one of the most important arts, but that it may become, for them, a life choice that provides them with financial independence.”
Predominance of women
It is evident in the programming of this course, headed by film critic Ahmed Al-Hasani, a special interest in the directors’ first experiences, produced in the past two years, with their specificity, a desire for different cinematic expression, and the search for a different visual equivalent. For example: “The World After Us” (France) by Luda Bensalah Kazana, “Little Body” (co-production by Italy, France and Slovenia) by Laura Samani, “Blue Moon” (Romania) by Alina Gregory, and “Wild Spark” (Spain) by Inoha Rodrigues And “Between the Waves” (Morocco) by Hadi Awlad Muhannad, and “Qudha” (Tunisia) by Anis Al-Aswad, andThe sea is in front of youBy the Lebanese Elie Dagher.
This course deals with women’s issues, in the fiction and documentary competitions, and the “Free Space” and “Heartbeat” sections, in addition to the “Federal International Federation of Film Press (Fepresi) competition.” There are a remarkable number of female directors’ films, such as women on juries, and others honored.
The artistic treatments of films that discuss women’s issues vary. Some of them adopt satirical comedy, and others choose tragedy. Styles also vary between realism, fantasy and myth. For example: “Little Body” – winner of 8 international awards following its international premiere in “Critics Week 60”, in the 74th session (6-17 July 2021) forCannes Film Festival He has a strong cinematic language, tending to the mythical, with events that take place in Italy in 1900: the young Agata makes a desperate journey to reach a mysterious haven, to save the soul of her daughter who died following her birth.
“Vera Dreams of the Sea” (a co-production by Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia) by Kalterina Krasnici (Kosovo), deals with the issue of women’s ownership. “Vera’s mother was in her thirties, when she divorced my father,” says the director. “I fought a legal system heavily influenced by tradition, which prevents women from property rights. When I read the screenplay “Vera Dreams of the Sea”, I was drawn to it. Vera’s story was similar to that of my mother. Submissive By nature, she speaks for the deaf.But her husband’s suicide has thrown her into a world where his reputation is being used to steal her daughter’s future.Vera reveals present-day Kosovo: a ruthless post-war corruption enterprise that disguises modernity and economic progress, where women suffer collateral damage, on a highway Others, in progress.
“Wild Spark” is a comedy regarding women who live in a small rural town, in a state of constant chills. They watch the passage of time while they are exhausted by the emigration of their families, and preoccupied with their daily concerns, while nothing attractive happens. They dream of experiences that liberate them, and transport them to the place where they lived, previously, moments of joy and happiness.
New Arab cinema
In addition, there is a clear interest in the new Arab cinema, in these sections of the 27th session. Out of the 12 films in the feature-length competition, there are 5 films by Arab directors that evoked a critical resonance, Arab and international, including: “The Stranger” by Syrian Amir Fakhr El-Din, “Abu Saddam” by Egyptian Nadine Khan, and “Huda Salon” by Palestinian Hani Abu Asaad. . In the “Free Space” program, “feathers” by the Egyptian Omar Al-Zuhairi is shown, and in the documentary competition, there is “Captain Al-Zaatari” by the Egyptian Ali Al-Arabi, and “In my mother’s corner” by the Moroccan. A mountain village, (the card) will be an excuse to give life to an interesting tale. The name of the village is Zawiya. Her mother left her as a child and never returned. But Asmaa decided to return to that secluded place.
In the same competition, there is “Summer Pack” by Moroccan Salem Bilal, and “Beirut in the Eye of the Storm” by Palestinian Mai Al-Masry. Thus, the stricken Lebanon’s presence at the “Tetouan Festival” is confirmed by 3 films, the latest of which is “Costa Brava” by Mounia Akl, which is shown in the “Heartbeat” section: The Badri family escapes from Beirut, following drowning in garbage. She lives in her beautiful home in a charming mountainous area. There, life was going on quietly and meekly, until the Lebanese government decided to set up a landfill next to the house, which pushes the family members to live a difficult test, affecting their feelings, the cohesion of their relationships and emotional ties.
Moroccan cinema and the shifts of critical discourse
Also, the programming of the “Tetouan Festival” reveals an interest, not only with the Moroccan viewer, Ibn al-Madina, in integrating him into his activities, but also with the Moroccan filmmakers, whose films were selected in the different sections. Outside the competition, “Autumn of Apples” by Muhammad Muftaker, “Zanqa Contact” by Ismail Al-Iraqi, and 4 short films by Emad Badee’, entitled “4 Fosoul”, are shown. There is also the “Critics’ Competition”, named following the late Moroccan film critic Mustafa El-Masnaoui, whose prize is awarded to a film in the feature-length competition.
In the honors of the 27th session, the name of Moroccan director Noureddine Lakhmari, described by Moroccan critic Abdellatif El Bazi as “plain for the right of Moroccans to beauty”, and who “enjoys the same popularity for actors”, because “a lively, handsome and elegant artist, since his short films, that he accomplished in Denmark, the country that hosted him, which expressed my existential anxiety and bewilderment.” Al-Bazi added: “Since then, his followers have expected that his presence would not be fleeting.” In honor of him, his two films are shown: “Zero” (2012) and “Casa Negra” (2007).
Belgian actress Deborah Francois, discovered by Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Darden, is honored with her choice to play Sonia, in The Son (2005), a young mother who revolts when her partner decides to sell her child. The film won the Palme d’Or at the 58th session (May 11-22, 2005) of the Cannes Film Festival. As for her, she won several awards, including “Cesar” Best Women’s Hope (2009) for her role in “The First Day of the Remaining of Your Life” (2008) by Remy Busson. In honor of the honour, two films for her will be shown: “My People” (2012) by Régis Rwansar, and “The Other Continent” (2019) by Roman Kogitori.
The third honoree is Alex Brindimol, a Spanish director and actor, who has become one of the icons of the contemporary Spanish film scene. He is shown in the homage “Mother” (2019) by Rodrigo Sorogoyan.
Finally, two seminars are held, the first that raises the question of the transformations of critical discourse, especially in the era of social networks, and the second on the national and Mediterranean cinematic heritage, between memory and oblivion, in the era of digitization, with a question raised: “Is the fate of “cinema-country” be trapped in A room for documentation only, or will the concept of heritage, in the sense of working on restoration and preservation, be directed to experimental forms that require exhibitions and exhibitions? Questions, no matter how the attendees try to make suggestions regarding them, their answers remain open to time and technological development.