Rabat- Three Moroccan films, namely Life Suits Me Well, The Slave, and A Summer in Boujad were awarded at the 33rd Carthage Film Festival (JCC), which took place from October 29 to November 5 in Tunisia.
Life Suits Me Well directed by Al Hadi Ulad-Mohand and starring Samir Guesmi, Lubna Azabal, and Sayyid El Alami won the festival’s Critics’ Week award.
Director and film critic Serge Albert Toubiana, who served as the jury’s president described Life Suits Me Well as “a potent film that depicts a human portrait and conveys an understanding of the family wounds through outstanding performances and captivating images.”
From the film Life Suits Me Well
The film is set in a small town in northern Morocco in the mid-1990s. Fouad is an employee at the local post office who suffers from a neurological condition. After Fouad’s death his family rediscovers itself through love, sorrow, and memories.
From the film The Slave
The Moroccan film The Slave by Abdelilah El Jaouhari won the prize for best original music. The film explores the concepts of freedom and slavery, and it questions the individuals’ modern freedom in the age of capitalism. Brahim, a young man in the film, declares in a cafe that he wishes to be a buyer’s slave.
A Summer in Boujad by Omar Mouldouira was awarded the prize of the National Center of Cinema and Image. The movie takes place in the summer of 1986 and tells the tale of Karim, a 13-year-old boy who travels to Boujad for the first time in seven years after his mother’s passing.
From the film A Summer in Boujad
Disappointed by the cold reception from his family members, Karim seeks refuge away from his family home. This is when he meets the neighborhood kids, and in an effort to fill his family void explores the city’s hidden side.
Morocco was represented by eight films including Fatema, The Unforgettable Sultana, a feature film by Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, screened at the opening held from October 29 to November 5 in Tunisia. The feature film portrays the life of Moroccan sociologist and feminist author Fatema Mernissi and her academic legacy.
The annual Carthage Film Festival was founded in 1966 and is one of the oldest film festivals on the African continent and in the Arabic-speaking world.
