Scandar Copti’s “Glad Trip” received high honors on the Marrakesh Movie Competition on Saturday, capping off an emotional and politically resonant ceremony that additionally introduced Marrakesh to Lakash’s Golden Star provides to a listing of honours, which additionally contains Greatest Screenplay on the Orizzonti in Venice and Greatest Appearing on the Orizzonti in Venice.
The critically acclaimed movie additionally shared the Greatest Actress award for its stars, Manar Shehab and Wafaa Aoun.
This Palestinian movie is split into 4 chapters and tells the story of a bunch of characters – Arabs and Jews – dwelling in modern Haifa. With a novelistic give attention to cultural and interpersonal dynamics, the movie depicts an enormous social circle the place household secrets and techniques and household tensions underscore on a regular basis scenes.
This yr’s jury is led by Luca Guadagnino, alongside Andrew Garfield, Jacob Elordi, Virginia Efira, Together with Patricia Arquette, Zoya Akhtar, Ali Abbasi, Nadia Kounda and Santiago Mitre, The winner was collectively awarded by unanimous vote.
When screenwriter Mona Copti accepted the award on behalf of her fellow film-makers, she expressed her pleasure on the harsh actuality of the continued struggle in Gaza.
“How did we get right here?” she requested. “How did dehumanization change into normalized? How did killing, destruction, and martyrdom change into virtually acceptable? How did we lose our ethical compass and attain the purpose of ethical collapse?
“We hope this movie offers some solutions to those questions by revealing the impression of indoctrination on society and its impression on particular person conduct – particularly in communities the place ladies are nonetheless constrained by customs and traditions that deprive them of of particular person freedom. Our struggles are interconnected, and true liberation can’t be achieved in isolation. None of us is really free till we’re all actually free.
Actually, almost the entire night’s speeches had a political overtone. When director Silvina Schnicer accepted the Jury Prize for her movie “The Cottage” (which shared the identical prize with Mo Harawe’s “The Village”) Sharing the respect with The Village Subsequent to Paradise), the Argentinian director denounced the heavy-handed method of his nation’s Javier Milei authorities, particularly with regards to slicing movie funding.
Lastly, Polish drama Beneath the Volcano was one other massive winner of the evening, with filmmaker Damian Kocur taking the director’s award and star Roman Lutskyi taking the perfect award. Main Actor Trophy. In one other partaking speech, the actor devoted his award to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The twenty first Marrakech Movie Competition attracted greater than 40,000 attendees, 5,000 greater than the earlier yr’s document, with younger folks and college students from Moroccan movie faculties accounting for a big portion. Along with the broader promotion programme, Marrakech has launched an expanded competition middle protecting over half a mile, incorporating new venues whereas making a extra vibrant and inclusive environment.
Awards season favorites like Walter Salles’ “I am Nonetheless Right here” and Gints Zilbalodis’ “Stream” screened within the viewers , whereas the world premiere of Jean-Claude Barny’s political biopic Fanon cemented the competition’s popularity as a showcase for mainland movies.
To realize these objectives, the competition will probably be doubling down on its Atlas Distribution Awards – a current initiative aimed toward selling wider nationwide and worldwide recognition of Moroccan, Arab and Pan-African movies screened in Marrakech issued. This yr’s collection of 22 video games will probably be eligible for Atlas assist, together with the evening’s massive winner.
“We realized that these initiatives aren’t sometimes launched within the Arab world or Africa besides throughout festivals,” stated competition coordinator Ali Hajji. “To make sure their cultural and financial viability and longevity, we imagine it’s essential to create a distribution system that higher engages these audiences. Fairly merely, we would like Arab and African audiences to see these movies.