MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) —
The Marrakech Worldwide Movie Pageant bestowed its prime prize Friday on “Happy Holidays,” a Palestinian drama set in Israel whose screenplay received an award on the Venice Movie Pageant in September.
The movie, directed by Scandar Copti, follows Israeli and Palestinian characters going through familial and societal pressures in present-day Haifa and stars each skilled and non-professional actors. It’s the first Palestinian movie to win Marrakech’s Etoile D’Or award.
Screenwriter Mona Copti in an acceptance speech stated the movie crew’s pleasure at successful was tempered by warfare within the Center East and he or she denounced what she known as the dehumanization of Palestinians
Eight options, every a director’s first or second movie, competed within the competition. The successful movies tackled social points by the lens of household, a theme that the competition’s inventive director Remi Bonhomme underlined at its opening.
The competition awarded its jury prize to 2 extra movies from Somalia and Argentina. The nine-member jury awarded Mo Harawe’s “The Village Next to Paradise” — a narrative a few household dwelling below the specter of drone strikes dreaming of a greater life — and Silvina Schnicer’s “The Cottage” about youngsters who commit an unspeakable act at a wealthy household’s summer time trip dwelling.
“The Village Next to Paradise” participated final yr within the Marrakech competition’s Atlas Workshops, an initiative to develop filmmakers from Morocco, the Center East and Africa and promote their work. In his acceptance speech, Harawe lauded the movie’s Somali forged and crew and highlighted the importance of the award for Somalia.
Cecilia Rainero, the lead actor of “The Cottage,” thanked the jury and stated it was significant amid Argentinian President Javier Milei’s strikes to defund the nation’s movie business.
