Rabat – L’Initiative Culturelle (Cultural Initiative), the Moroccan association that organizes the Agadir International Festival of Cinema and Migration, has announced the postponement of the event’s 18th edition to a later date, according to a press release cited by MAP, Morocco’s press agency.
The association explained that the decision is a response to the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases.
The festival was initially scheduled for December 13-18, 2021 then postponed to February 4-10 and later to February 21-26, 2022, it added.
Focused on migration and related social realities, the event attracts a wide international selection of new feature films and short films about the migrant experience or directed by immigrants.
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The 17th edition of the International Festival of Cinema and Migration Agadir took place online between December 22 and 26, 2020.
The jury selected 3 out of 10 movies for the prizes, Grand Prize, Best Director, and Best Scenario.
The Grand prize went to Le Jeune Ahmed (Young Ahmed) and Best Director and Best Scenario prizes went to Zeus and Rafaël, respectively.
Le Jeune Ahmed is a 2019 Belgian movie directed by the brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. It narrates the story of a 13-year-old young Muslim boy from Belgium who murders his teacher in the name of his religion. The film received the Best Director Award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Zeus is a 2016 biopic film by Portuguese director Paulo Filipe Monteiro. The biopic genre dramatizes the life of a person, typically a historical or public figure.
Zeus focuses on the life of Manuel Teixeira Gomes, former President of Portugal. Gomes was a writer and elected president who left Portugal to settle in Algeria where he later died. The film Zeus is a homage to his life.
Rafaël is a 2018 film directed by Dutch filmmaker Ben Sombogaart. It is based on Christine Otten’s book of the same name. Rafaël narrates the story of Tunisian Nazir and his Dutch pregnant wife Kimmy. Due to the Arab Spring, Nazir tries to escape to Europe to reunite with his wife but he ends up being detained as an illegal refugee in Lampedusa. The 2018 Academy Awards shortlisted Rafaël for the Best Foreign Language Film.
In addition to the display and selection of feature and short films, the Agadir festival hosted a master class on university training of cinema professionals with the participation of ex-President of Ibn Zhor University, Omar Halli, as well as a conference entitled “Les Artistes Marocains du Monde Ont la Parole” (Global Moroccan Artists Have the Floor.
