Tributes, symposiums, round tables, educational workshops and film screenings for the benefit of inmates of the Tetouan penitentiary center

Press Release

The 28th edition of the Mediterranean Film Festival of Tetouan, which will be organized from March 3 to 10, will be rich in strong and unprecedented events. This year, Turkey will be the guest of honour. Tributes will be paid to Egyptian actress and star Ghada Adel, Turkish actress Fieldan Atasevir, Spanish director Judit Collell, Moroccan director Hassan Benjelloun and Italian director Daniele Vicari. A symposium entitled Digital, ethics and aesthetics will also be organized, with the participation of the Algerian-French screenwriter Nadia Meflah, the writer Yara Yanes, the professor and researcher Mohamed Awlad Ola, the film critic and researcher Tariq Ben Chaaban and the film professor David Roche. The festival will organize two round tables, the first entitled “Moroccan Cinema Today: Possibilities and Paradoxes”, moderated by critic and translator Abdellatif El-Bazi El-Amrani, with the participation of journalist and critic Muhammad Jibril, film researcher Laila Al-Charadi, and university professor Anwar Oyashi. The second symposium is entitled Jean Luc Godard: Mediterranean resonances; The director and producer Ali Al-Safi, the journalist and film critic Saâd Shakali and the university professor Abdel-Karim Chiguer take part in it. The program also includes the signing of the book “A few events without significance to be reconstructed” with the participation of writer Léa Morin, critic and journalist Ahmed Boughaba and Moroccan director Mustafa Al-Derquaoui.

As part of the activities of this twenty-eighth edition, and for the first time, the festival will organize the “Days of the cinematographic industry of Tetouan”, which is a program of accompaniment and development of scenarios for feature films and documentaries, with the participation of young screenwriters, directors and producers from the countries of the Mediterranean basin; prizes will be awarded to the three best projects.

As for the films participating in the official competition of this edition, the festival management announced its selection of twelve (12) films out of three hundred and fifty (350) films received from different Mediterranean countries.

This edition will include the organization of a panel on co-production, the world film market, co-production and cooperation opportunities between the two shores of the Mediterranean, in which the producer, director and international screenwriter Radu Milaniano, the director and producer Hisham Hajji and producer Bassam Al-Asaad, and producer and director Jamal Soussi.

As a reminder, over a period of four days, between March 3 and 6, 2023, the “Talents en Court” training meeting will benefit 12 students affiliated with film institutes in Morocco; it will endeavor to analyze the two short films Off Season and So that nothing changes, in the presence of their director, “Francisco Artelli”. The workshop will also conclude with the sharing of the experiences of Corsican director Alex Ferrari, and with a presentation on Tunisian cinema, made by director Tarek Ben Chaaban.

And aware of the importance of education in the image and cinema as a didactic, pedagogical and instructive tool, the festival has set itself the objectives, since its creation, of opening up to educational establishments of all levels: primary, college, qualifying and higher. This is the “School Program and Training” component, which offers training workshops, which will be led by professionals in the field of the seventh art, for the benefit of teachers and students of university establishments.

Schoolchildren will also benefit from cinematographic screenings and educational workshops introducing them to cinematographic and audiovisual techniques. Schoolchildren will have an appointment at the historic Spanish Cinema room, every afternoon, during the festival, to attend the screenings of animated films intended for children from 6 to 13 years old.

On the sidelines of the Tetouan Film Festival, this edition will include the organization of four film screenings of various Moroccan films for the benefit of inmates of the local prison of Tetouan. A workshop on “directing actors” will be led by professor and theater director Mohamed Barrada. Finally, and in partnership with the Ministry of Health, a blood donation campaign will be organised.