24th Annual Mediterranean Film Festival Takes on Censorship and Production in Tetouan

Rabat – Calling all cinema buffs: the 24th edition of the Mediterranean Film Festival of Tetouan will kickoff this Saturday, March 24 through Saturday, March 31, taking on questions of artistic freedom, power, and cinematic censorship in film production and distribution.

Under the theme of “Cinema and Freedom,” the festival features free screenings and roundtable discussions with artists, scholars, and filmmakers to discuss film reading and analysis, directing, screenplay writing, which are open to the public. The festival also includes an acting workshop called “Studio,” and a scriptwriting and directing workshop called “Méditalents,” both aimed at young talent from 18 to 30 years old.

Throughout the week, Mediterranean filmmakers will work together to explore questions of freedom and power: How does the Arab and Muslim public receive cinematographic discourse related to the concepts of freedom? How can cinema serve as a tool to expand parameters of expression and defend individual liberties? What are pragmatic responses for Mediterranean filmmakers in light of institutional challenges and censorship?

The festival symposium will include the novelist and film critic Juan Madrid (Spain), the academic and critic Olivier Caïra (France), the academic and novelist Mouna Chimiyi (Egypt), and the sociologist Mohamed Ennaji (Morocco).

Additional discussions include French university professor Francis Borda’s “Conquest and defense of freedom: Chaplin filmmaker” and “Challenges of Moroccan Cinema: From Production to Distribution.”

The 24th Edition of the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival honors four renowned female stars of the Mediterranean throughout the week: Egyptian actor Menna Shalaby, Italian actor Anna Bonaiuto, Spanish actor Luisa Gavasa, and the Moroccan actor Mouna Fettou. The festival will pay vibrant tributes to these starlets in the Teatro Español during the opening and the closing ceremonies of the festival, and guests will have the opportunity to meet each of the stars throughout the week.