The Tetouan Film Festival Strongly Coming Back After the Pandemic

Under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohamed VI, the city of Tetouan will host the 27th edition of its Mediterranean Film Festival, from June 10th to 17th, 2022. The Tetouan Festival takes up a great cultural challenge, in this unprecedented global situation, by announcing the resumption of its large-scale project, dedicated to Mediterranean cinema, since the spring of 1985. Celebrities from the world of the media and stars of international, Arab and Moroccan cinema will be present during this edition. The Festival thus returns, to the front of the stage, after the virtual session, dictated by the Covid pandemic, when cinemas were closed and festivals canceled or postponed. Tetouan, strong in its past and current experiences, is preparing to reconnect with its tradition by opening its arms to cinema lovers and film professionals from all over the world.

The Ivorian director Jacques Trabi chairs the fiction feature film jury during this session. This director has never stopped innovating since his first film “To my mother”, which won the prize for best film at the “Fespaco” festival in 1997. The president of the jury is also famous for his latest film “L’amour en bonus ”, produced in 2013. The jury also includes Spanish director and actress Mabel Lozano, Moroccan novelist and film critic Mohamed Laroussi, and Moroccan artist-painter Mohamed El Baz.

The Egyptian writer and critic Amal El Gamal chairs the Critics’ jury, which bears the name of the late Moroccan critic Mustafa El-Mesnaoui. Amal El Gamal is the screenwriter of several films and has done numerous studies on cinema, including “With the eyes of a woman”, “Joint Arab Cinema” and “Cinema Cross Genre… The Critics’ Jury also includes the researcher and Moroccan scriptwriter Laila Charadi, a specialist in North African cinema, as well as Moroccan writer and critic Adel Semmar, who has studied Moroccan cinema in depth and is director of the digital platform “Founun – Maroc”. Also part of this jury will be Miguel Angel Parra, vice-president of the Association of Screenwriters of Andalusia.

The Documentary Film Competition jury is chaired by French director Marion Stalens, known for her documentaries on the status of women and freedom of expression. The jury also includes French director Fanny Aubert Malaurie, consultant in cinema and new media at the Paris Cultural Institute, Moroccan critic Nadia Miftah, member of the World Cinema Support Foundation, as well as Tunisian filmmaker Fathi Kharrat, who has held the position of Director General of the Audiovisual Department at the Tunisian Ministry of Culture and the position of Director of the Carthage Film Festival.

Twelve feature films will be screened in the Avenida cinema in front of the public and the members of the jury. It should be noted that the films participating in the official competition will be the subject of deliberations just after their respective screenings. The hall of the french Institute will host the screening of the 8 documentary films. At the Spanish Cinema Theater will be held the screening of opening and closing films, films from the Tributes section, films screened out of official competition and films programmed in the children’s cinema section.