Tangier festival celebrates Mediterranean short films

2009-10-19

The Mediterranean Short Film Festival honours the work of filmmakers from 20 countries around the basin and encourages other cineastes to embrace the art form.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 19/10/09

[File] This year's Short Film Festival drew record numbers to Morocco's Mediterranean coast.

A veritable constellation of artists and stars from several countries descended on Tangier for the Mediterranean Short Film Festival, which ran Monday through Saturday (October 12th-17th).

The festival, which introduces and rewards the work of the most deserving filmmakers, has become a major event for Mediterranean short film enthusiasts. Tunisian, Palestinian, Moroccan, Jordanian, Lebanese, Egyptian, French, Italian, Turkish, Albanian, Greek and Portuguese films were among the nearly 60 shorts screened.

"The festival has become a gathering not to be missed," said Abdelkbir Regagna, a Moroccan actor and director. "It facilitates dialogue between different film cultures and sheds light on the experiences of Morocco and other countries within the Maghreb, the Arab world and beyond."

Three awards were presented during the event. The Grand Prix de Tanger went to the French short "Le saut des deux fous" by Alexandra Grau de Sola. The Jury Prize was awarded to Portuguese director Claudia Vrejao for his work "Cold Day", and the Best Screenplay Award went to the Cyprus-Greek production "Notice" by Constantinos Yiallourides.

The festival organisers are proud of the event's success. "This is the first time the festival has attracted people from 20 countries around the Mediterranean," said festival director Mohammed Bakrim. "This underscores the renown that both the festival and Tangier now enjoy."

The president of the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre, Noureddine Sail, expressed his satisfaction with the success that the festival has achieved over the years.

He also hailed the festival's impact on creating interest in filmmaking in Morocco. "We have managed to increase the number of our entries [in the festival] from three to five short films," he said.

Tangier City Council Chairman Samir Abdelmoula said that the festival, now in its seventh year, serves as a bridge between various cinematic movements throughout the Mediterranean basin.

"Short films are one of the best ways of responding to the huge changes in the film industry," said Faouzi Bensaïdi, head of the festival jury and a filmmaker himself. "The festival will ensure that Moroccan filmmaking has a bright future."

The festival has proven successful in achieving its goal of stimulating the production of short films in Morocco. Figures from the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre show that annual production has risen from nine short films in 2004 to 80 this year.

Mohammed Bakrim, who has been in charge of mounting the festival since its start in 2002, said that the festival has now set a trend, and the Moroccan short film sector is thriving. But he added that more government aid must be provided for the sector to grow further and that films of this type should be screened in cinemas right before standard studio films are shown.

Algerian director Khaled Benaissa summed up what makes the Tangier festival so valuable: "Short films are a very important format for the Maghreb, Africa and the southern hemisphere as a whole, since they are more accessible in terms of production and linguistics."