2023-12-03 11:19:51
The Moroccan documentary film “White Lies” by its young director, Asma El-Moudir, won the gold star at the Marrakesh International Film Festival, which was expected, according to many critics and the audience, who stood by it long following the end of its screening.
This is the first time that a Moroccan film has won this award following 20 sessions since the festival began in 2001.
The director said that she showed the film in two international forums in English and French, but she felt a special feeling when she showed it in Marrakesh in the Moroccan dialect, highlighting that she did not expect to be crowned.
She pointed out that “White Lies” began its brilliance at the Cannes Film Festival, but its biggest crowning glory was in Marrakesh.
Director Asmaa Al-Moudir (center raises the winning badge) following her film won the Golden Star at the International Film Festival in Marrakesh (Al Jazeera)
“Gangs” and “Bye Bye Tiberias”
In turn, the Moroccan and Palestinian films “Gangs” by director Kamal Azraq and “Bye Bye Tiberias” by director Lina Sawalim impressed; Cinema lovers in Marrakesh and the jury that awarded them the award equally.
The committee, which was chaired by American actress Jessica Chastain, awarded the young Senegalese woman, Ramata Toulay Sy, with the directing award for her film “Panel and Adama.” Ramata told Al Jazeera Net following its screening that she devoted all her strength to this film to show the youth’s passion for freedom of choice despite all circumstances, and she considered that the award was secondary to her and that reaching the heart of the audience was greater than that.
In addition, Asya Zara Lakomdzia won the Best Actress award for her role in the film “Picnic” by Una Konjac from Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the Best Actor award went to Duka Karakas for his role in the film “The Dormitory” by Nehir Tuna from Turkey.
Senegalese director Ramata Toulay Sy (centre) won the directing award for her film “Panel and Adama” (Al Jazeera)
Breathtaking
The film “White Lies” takes the viewer’s breath away and makes him feel chills for 96 minutes, as it transports the viewer to a special atmosphere in the life of a simple Moroccan family linked to the painful events of Casablanca in June 1981, one of the years of bullets in which a number of martyrs fell in defense of a decent life. .
Although the heroes of the documentary are none other than the director’s family, the director, with dazzling intelligence and successful technical choices, was able to bring out the best from all of them, especially the grandmother, to present to the audience a global film, aligned with committed art that sheds light on humanitarian issues and champions the oppressed.
Moroccan film critic Hamadi Karroum told Al Jazeera Net: “Asmaa is an intelligent director, and she has a great outlook on art and life,” and he considered that “honesty” is the most important feature of what any artist presents to the public, which is what the director succeeded in admirably.
Karroum pointed out that the culmination of another Moroccan film, “Gangs,” is a great symbol of the development of Moroccan cinema and the presence of other talents waiting to be given the opportunity to express themselves in all relevant cinematic professions.
He added that Moroccan cinema has been able to offer its audience films of all kinds, from author cinema, to popular cinema, to films that bet on the aesthetic artistic dimension, noting that “this diversity serves the course of its history, but it should be more present at the Marrakesh Festival.” .
A clip from the Moroccan film “Gangs” directed by Kamal Azraq (Al Jazeera)
Festival new
Perhaps what attracted the most attention in the 20th session of the festival, in addition to the advanced presence of Moroccan cinema in the various segments and even its crowning in the official competition, is the decline of the French language compared to the English language, and also the facilitation of entry to the halls by adopting electronic entry badges, with a segment allocated to emerging audiences. One of her morning shows is for children from Al Haouz, victims of the earthquake.
In this regard, Moroccan film critic Mustafa Al-Taleb told Al Jazeera Net: After two decades of work and perseverance, Moroccan cinema has become represented by two films instead of one film, and both of them were crowned with success. This is a positive indication that Moroccan cinema is developing and has weight despite the problems it faces.
A snapshot from an exhibition within the framework of the Marrakesh Film Festival 2023 (Al Jazeera)
But the student stressed the need to pay more attention to Arab cinema from all countries and enable it to have a real presence, compared to European and American cinema, as the Moroccan audience loves it.
Critic Karroum stressed that Moroccan cinema is witnessing great development compared to cinema in other Arab countries, pointing to the direct support it receives from the state, and the presence of multiple and diverse schools for cinema professions, as well as placing trust in young people and allocating sections – not competitions – to show and discuss their films. Exchanging experiences can further enrich the Moroccan experience.
Discussion and public interaction during the Marrakesh Film Festival 2023 (Al Jazeera)
International names
The festival organized direct dialogues with international directors, and their meeting with the audience was an opportunity to shed light on dark aspects of their working methods, their artistic choices, their dealings with the scenario and actors, and also topics that try to deviate from stereotypes and the prevailing American model.
The student highlighted that the festival continues to attract prominent international names that add artistic value, and has also formed an artistic space for exchanging experiences and visions between Moroccan and international filmmakers, as well as representing an opportunity for students of film institutes to benefit from workshops and meetings with professional and international filmmakers.
An interview with Russian Andrey Zvyagintsev at the Marrakesh Film Festival 2023 (Al Jazeera)
Among the meetings that witnessed a great demand from the audience were the dialogue with Moroccan directors Faouzi Bensaidi, who was also honored at the festival for his distinguished works over 25 years, and the Russian Andrey Zvyagintsev, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the European Film Academy, and the Japanese Naomi Kawase, who continues to produce films. In the city of Nara, where she was born and raised, her stories are inspired by reality, and her films cross the boundaries between documentary and fiction, and have won many awards at the largest international festivals.
Honoring Moroccan Faouzi Bensaidi at the closing ceremony of the Marrakesh Festival 2023 (Al Jazeera)
The festival was also an opportunity to meet the brightest actors, including the Australian Simon Baker, who received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his valuable contribution to the entertainment industry, and the American William Dafoe for his legendary artistic career that resulted in more than 100 films. He gained international fame thanks to the diversity and boldness of the roles he played. .
An interview with Simon Baker at the Marrakesh International Film Festival 2023 (Al Jazeera)
The glamor of cinema
The festival presented regarding 75 films from 36 countries, but there was an unexpectedly weak turnout for some screenings, especially foreign ones or by unknown directors, including films in the official competition.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, film critic Ezz El-Din El-Wafi attributed this to a number of bloody events that took place recently, whether the Al-Haouz earthquake or the war on Gaza.
However, Al-Wafi said that cinema has its place and its distinctive cultural space, and that movie lovers will continue to watch films, whether at the festival or on other platforms, but he wondered regarding the existence of a true identity for the festival that reflects its originality instead of showing films from all sides.
A special show for young audiences dedicated to the children of the Al Haouz region (Al Jazeera)
Critic Hamadi Karroum explained that cinema has always had that sparkle and still does, and it can never be lost, noting that Moroccans are now more “cinephiliac” (emotional interest in films) than before, and that they follow new films through multiple platforms, and even film students find them More familiar with cinema than before.
Crom warned once morest stereotyping in cinema resulting from the narrative dictatorship established by the American experience. He also warned once morest the ignorant images that appear in what he called colloquial cinema that threatens quality. He considered that “honesty and nothing but honesty” is what brings every art scholar to the heart of the broad public and through it. To global fame.
Members of the Marrakesh Festival 2023 jury (Al Jazeera)
Festival Prospects
Regarding the festival’s prospects following reaching “the age of majority,” critic Hamadi Karroum calls for moving beyond what he called the inferiority complex, as the first or second films of its directors will be nominated within the official competition, highlighting that the time has come to choose the “great film” for each candidate for the award, because that will give greater value. For the festival and aspires for it to become more international, knowing that the name and spirit of the city alone are enough to elevate the festival to the highest levels.
Karroum also called for a reconsideration of the Atlas workshops, as it is feared that the workshops that guide emerging directors’ creativity will be destroyed and that they will lose their artistic identity, given the abundance of observations and interventions in artistic choices.
A snapshot from the closing ceremony of the Marrakesh Festival 2023 (Al Jazeera)
Karroum warned of the necessity of relying on Moroccan competencies in programming instead of choosing foreign names of the third or fourth degree, and also in other fields, as it is enough to watch, for example, a documentary by Moroccan director Hakim Bel Abbes to show us the originality of creativity.
Crom – who is awaiting the publication of the book “Understanding the Art of Cinema” – regrets the existence of a strict protocol for the movement of stars and the audience, which makes meeting between them almost impossible, while we do not find this in other international festivals, and he considered that art protects itself by itself, and demanded that the artist be allowed to take “ The public bath refreshes and strengthens him.
In turn, the student pointed out another point that is not without importance, which is the decline of the Francophone orientation that dominated the festival in favor of the Anglo-Saxon orientation, and this enables the festival to maintain its internationalism and compete with Arab and international festivals.
Marrakesh Festival 2023 reduced celebrations to a minimum out of respect for the massacres occurring in Gaza due to the Israeli bombing (Al Jazeera)
He praised reducing the celebration to the minimum out of respect for the massacres taking place in Gaza due to the barbaric Israeli bombing, and said that in this context, the showing of the Palestinian documentary film “Bye Bye Tiberias” had a positive impact on the Moroccan and Arab public, who saw in it an implicit solidarity with the Palestinian people.
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