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Rabat – The Moroccan movie “Sofia,” produced by Moroccan director Meryem Ben M’barek, has found its public in France.
The feature movie won, on Sunday, August 26; the “Valois” for best scenario at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival held in southwest France), from August 21-26.
The award is not Ben M’barek’s first distinction. In May, “Sofia” received the Cannes Festival’s Screenwriting Award.
“Sofia” is Meryem Ben M’Barek’s first feature film. Her short film “Jennah,” her thesis project at INSAS in Brussels, won the 2014 Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Starred by Maha Alami, the cast includes Sara Elmhamdi Elalaoui (“Much Loved”), Sarah Perles (“Burnout” by Nour-Eddine Lakmari), Hamza Khafif, Lubna Azabal (“Exiles” and “Paradise Now”), Faouzi Bensaidi (“The Blissful”), Nadia Niazi, and Said Bey.
Ben M’Barek’s script tells the story of a single mother desperately searching for the father of her unborn child to avoid being reported to the authorities by the hospital.
However, the objective of the film is not to discover the identity of the father but to show “the pressure imposed by a society that cannot comprehend a birth without a husband,” as Ben M’Barek explained in a statement.
The film “Sofia,” a French-Qatari-Moroccan production, in which the lead role is played by the actress Maha Alami, will be released in cinemas in France on September 5.
The “Diamond Valois,” the highest distinction of the Francophone Film Festival, was won by the film “Sheherazade,” the first feature film by French director Jean-Bernard Marlin.
Created by producers Marie-France Briere and Dominique Besnehard, the FFA defends a popular and subtle cinema and honors the francophone and French films of today, those of the past, and also the talents of tomorrow.
