Rabat – The third edition of the Rabat-Comedy International Film Festival (IFF) concluded on the night of June 30, with leading Moroccan directors and actors announcing the awards for the festival’s winning films. During the five days of the festival, shorts and features from 16 countries were screened at Cinéma Renaissance, located in the center of Rabat.
Known as the first comedy film festival in Africa, Rabat-Comedy debuted in-person in 2019. While the festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2nd edition in 2021 was virtual, but still achieved great success, featuring a selection of 31 films from 20 countries.
The festival resumed in-person this year offering free screenings and ceremonies for the public. Drawing upon its previous experience in hosting the events remotely, the festival provided online interviews with the directors. It added script-writing workshops, allowing comedy-lovers to engage in the creative process.
Chaquir Achahbar, the founder and the president of Rabat-Comedy, has sought to promote comedy films and emerging filmmakers through this fest since 2019. As a film producer and director himself, Achahbar possesses unique insights into the comedy genre and the festival’s role as an international meeting point for comedy filmmakers.
“What we realized is that people all over the world like to express certain truths through comedy,” Achahbar told MWN. “We try to find films that speak to the universe, to the general public.”
This edition especially explored films from a variety of countries, such as Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, France, and Iran.
The Best Film prize in the short film competition went to the French film “Archibald’s Syndrome,” directed by Daniel Perez. The Grand Prix for the feature film category was awarded to “Sweet Disaster,” by German director Laura Lehmus.
The judging panel consisted of well-known professionals in the film industry, including Latifa Ahrrare, Abdeslam Bouhcini, Ghizlaine Assif, and Hicham Bahloul. The jury’s president, Mohamed Laroussi, expressed his excitement during the ceremony in seeing the high quality of the submitted films this year.
Speaking of future programs, Achahbar announced plans to organize thematic film screenings based on specific countries or artists to further encourage the cultural exchange in Rabat via cinema.
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