The 11th edition of the international film festival in Dakhla, scheduled from 2 to 8 June 2023, will see the participation of 16 African countries, representing all corners of the continent.
Placed under the slogan “Dakhla, gateway to Africa”, this film festival, initiated by the Association for Cultural and Artistic Animation of the Southern Provinces, aims to assert its African identity and to be an African and Arab cinematographic date open to the world cinema.
To this end, the festival has called on various personalities from the African, Arab and international film world, including directors, producers and stars of the seventh art.
The festival is characterised by its openness to its environment, through the organisation of its activities in multiple spaces with the aim of broadening its audience base, and allowing various social groups and people of all ages to follow and attend the different screenings and activities.
The Dakhla Convention Centre will host the screenings of the competition films. Ten feature films will compete for the Grand Prize, the Jury Prize, and the Best Actor and Best Actress awards. The films include « Regarde les étoiles, by David Constantin – Île Maurice », « Our Lady of chineese shop, by Ery Claver – Angola », « L’accord, Léa Malle by Frank Thierry – Cameroun », « Tembele by Morris Mugisha – Ouganda », « Amani by Ahmed Toiouil – Iles Comores », « Mayouya by Claudia Yaka – Congo », « L’esclave by Abdelilah El Jouhari – Maroc », « The sons of the Lord by Imene Ben Hassin – Tunisie », « La porte verte by Raouf Abdelaziz – Egypte » and « Sahari Slem wsaa by Moulay Tayeb Bouhanana – Maroc ».
The jury for this competition, which is chaired by writer Freida Ekotto, head of the African Studies Department at the University of Michigan, includes Maka Koto, filmmaker and former Minister of Culture of Quebec, Moroccan actress Sana Alaoui, American producer and costume designer Dana Scholdelmayer, and Beninese director Sylvestre Amoussou.
In the short film competition, ten films will compete for the Jury Prize, the Best Screenplay Prize and the Best Director Prize.
The short film jury will be chaired by journalist and film critic Bilal Marmid, and will be composed of the Egyptian writer and film critic Nahed Salah, Mauritanian director Amal Saad Bouh, Moroccan journalist Bakkar Dlimi and Tunisian editor Nadia Touijar.
The festival will pay tribute to Moroccan star Asmaa Khamlichi, Angolan director and producer Zézé Gamboa and Egyptian actress Rania Farid Chawky. A tribute will also be paid to Angolan cinema.
As part of the parallel activities, the Dakhla School of Technology will host symposiums and meetings with artists and filmmakers.
The main symposium will focus on “Promoting diversity and gender equality in African cinema”.
In order to highlight the cinema created by professionals from the southern provinces, a symposium will be organised on the theme of “the desert and the Bedouin space in documentary film”.
As part of the festival’s programming, a space will be dedicated to the creators who work in the seventh art through the “meeting with” section, which will host the Tunisian editor Nadia Touijer, who will talk about editing documentary films, and the Moroccan producer Kaoutar Tazrouti, who will share her experience on how to finance and market documentary films.
Young people interested in cinema and artists will also meet Abdelouahed Mjahed, who will share his experience of self-production. Moulay Ahmed Alaoui will present the latest developments in copyright and related rights.
Also, the National School of Commerce and Management of Dakhla will see the organisation of training workshops in the field of filmmaking.
In partnership with the regional academy of education and training of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, an activity aimed at young people, entitled “cinema and childhood”, will be programmed with the festival management at the El Oualaa house of culture. It will include a colloquium on the theme of “education in the culture of the image”, and a screening of films for children
Moroccan films will also be screened for the benefit of inmates of the local prison.
HA/lb/abj/APA