The Turkish feature film “Cloves and Carnations”, directed by Bekir Bülbül, won the Grand Prize of the 28th edition of the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival (FCMT), held from March 3 to 10, on Friday evening.
This film, which won the Grand Prize of the city of Tetouan “Tamouda”, tells the story of Musa, a former refugee who, in the snowy and desolate roads of south-eastern Anatolia, transports the body of his woman who died in their homeland with her granddaughter, Halime. Their journey becomes more difficult as they approach the border of a country at war. Once caught by the police, their paths separate into three different destinations.
The Azzedine Meddour prize for the first work was awarded to the film “Alam” by Palestinian director Firas Khoury, while the special jury prize Mohamed Reggab went to the Lebanese film “River bed” by Bassem Brèche.
The jury awarded the prize for best actor to actor Juraj Lérotic for his role in the Croatian film “Sure Place” directed by himself, and awarded the prize for female interpretation to actress Jalila Telemsi, for his role in the Moroccan film “Goldfish” by Abdeslam Kelai.
The Critics’ Prize “Mustapha Mesnaoui” was awarded to the Spanish film “Upon Entry” by Juan Sebastián Vasquez Alejandro Rojas, while the Screenplay Prize was awarded to the film “Enlieu Safe”.
This ceremony, which took place in the presence of local officials and personalities from the world of arts and culture, was marked by a vibrant tribute to the famous Egyptian actress, Ghada Adel, and the Spanish director, Judith Collel , as well as the screening of the French film “Les miens” by Roschdy Zem.
Twelve feature films were in the running for this edition. These are “Darkness”, directed by Dušan Milić (Serbia), “Alam” by Firas Khoury (Palestine), “Goldfish” by Abdeslam Kelai (Morocco), “Nezouh” by Soudade Kaadan (Syria), ” Ramona” by Andréa Bagney (Spain), “Safe Place” by Juraj Lérotic (Croatia), “Cloves and Carnations” by Bekir Bülbül (Turkey), “The Dam, Al Sadd” by Ali Cherri (Lebanon), “A summer in Boujad”, by Omar Mouldouira (Morocco), September” by Giulia Louise Steigerwalt (Italy), “Upon entry” by Juan Sebastián Vasquez Alejandro Rojas (Spain) and “River bed” by Bassem Brèche (Lebanon) .
The festival also chose 5 favorite films, namely “Mediterranean Fever” by Palestinian director Maha Haj, “The Island of Forgiveness” by Tunisian director Reda Bahi, “The Eight Mountains” by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen (Belgium), “Hanging Gardens” by Ahmed Yassine Al Daradji (Iraq), and “The Worst” by Romane Guéret and Lise Akoka (France).
This edition was marked by the holding of a symposium on “The digital, ethics and aesthetics”, and two round tables under the themes “Moroccan cinema today: Possibilities and paradoxes” and “Jean-Luc Godard , Mediterranean resonances”.
The great novelty of the festival this year was the organization of the “Tétouan Industry days” section. This is a program that brings together producers, distributors and exhibitors from the Mediterranean shore to meet project leaders and highlight young screenwriters, directors and producers. Under this heading, a “Panel” meeting was organized to discuss co-production, the global film market and opportunities for collaboration between the two parts of the Mediterranean.
Another major event of this edition was the signing of the book “A few events without significance to reconstitute”, in the presence of its editor Léa Morin, the director of the eponymous film, Mustapha Derkaoui and the critic and journalist, Ahmed Boughaba.
The festival also organized, from March 3 to 6, a “Talents en Court” training course, which benefited 12 students from Moroccan film schools, who analyzed two short films “Hors Saison” and ” So that nothing changes”, in the presence of their director, Fransisco Artiley, and the director of the Corsican cinema festival, Alix Firraris. And at the end of this training, a conference was held around Tunisian cinema proposed by the Tunisian lecturer, Tarek Ben Chaabane.
On the sidelines of the festival, four Moroccan films were screened in the local prison of Tetouan for the benefit of Moroccan and Spanish prisoners.