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Scandar Copti’s “Happy Holidays” won top honors at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday, capping an emotional and politically resonant ceremony, while adding Marrakech’s Étoile d’Or to a list of accolades for the film that also includes best screenplay from Venice’s Orizzonti and best in show from the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

The acclaimed title also claimed a shared best actress prize for leads Manar Shehab and Wafaa Aoun.

Split into four chapters, the Palestinian film follows an ensemble of characters – Arab and Jewish alike – living in contemporary Haifa. Family secrets and domestic tensions underscore scenes from everyday life as the film traces out an expansive social circle with a novelistic attention to cultural and interpersonal dynamics.

This year’s jury – led by Luca Guadagnino alongside Andrew Garfield, Jacob Elordi, Virginie Efira, Patricia Arquette, Zoya Akhtar, Ali Abbasi, Nadia Kounda and Santiago Mitre – together awarded the winning title with a unanimous vote.

Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s drama Happy Holidays has clinched the Étoile d’Or for Best Film at the Marrakech Film Festival.

The Jury Prize was awarded ex aequo to Argentinian director Silvina Schnicer’s The Cottage and Somali and Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise. Damian Kocur won the Best Directing Prize for his drama Under the Volcano, which is Poland’s Oscar entry this year.

The prize for Best Performance by an Actress was shared by Wafaa Aoun and Manar Shehab for their performances in Happy Holidays, while Roman Lutskyi won the award for Best Performance by an Actor for his work in Under the Volcano.

Happy Holidays is a contemporary Haifa-set drama in which a minor car accident sets off a chain of events, unraveling lies and unspoken truths that sow division within a multifaceted patriarchal society.

The film world premiered in the...

Sean Penn blamed the Oscars for “limiting different cultural expressions” and voiced his support for Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump movie “The Apprentice” while at Marrakech Film Festival, where he received a career tribute.

“The Academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice when it comes to being part of the bigger world of expression, and in fact, have largely been part of limiting the imagination and very limiting of different cultural expressions,” Penn said at a press conference during which he was casually smoking.

Ceremonies like the Oscars should best be seen as “television shows first” and less as barometers of artistic merit, he continued.

“So I don’t I get very excited about what we’ll call the Academy Awards [except for] when a film like ‘The Florida Project,’ or ‘I’m Still Here,’ or, you know, ‘Emilia Perez,’ of the things that are likely to happen this year,” he added. He also...

While at the jury press conference at Marrakech Film Festival, Luca Guadagnino said on Saturday that he’ll be “happy” if people download “Queer” in Turkey, where the movie, starring Daniel Craig as a gay American expat in 1950s Mexico City, was banned by authorities who deemed it “too provocative.”

“They banned the movie because they said the movie was creating social disorder,” Guadagnino said. “I wonder if they’ve seen the movie or if they are just judging it by the outline or let’s say the facetious stupidity of some journalism focusing on James Bond going gay.”

He rejoiced about the fact “Queer” is an “object that shatters our house of values in a way that is so powerful” and hopes that the “form of the movie brings the possibility of societal collapse.”

“I am scandalized by cinema. I am shocked by it, that I’m going to...

The Marrakech Film Festival, which opened Friday with Justin Kurzel’s timely thriller “The Order,” has more than 70 films in its lineup, which, as is customary, mixes known titles and fresh fare.

“The Order” is part of the event’s gala screenings that also comprise French-Moroccan auteur Nabil Ayouch’s feminist musical drama “Everybody Loves Touda,” Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” all of which will be accompanied by their directors.

The 14-title competition dedicated to first and second works includes Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s melodrama “Across the Sea,” about North African exiles in Marseilles, and Hind Meddeb’s doc “Sudan, Remember Us,” which pays homage to Sudanese people and culture by chronicling their 2019 revolution. “Sudan, Remember Us” is among films supported by the fest’s Atlas Workshops industry initiative, aimed at fostering and supporting the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan,...

Luca Guadagnino, who serves as jury president of the Marrakech Film Festival, spoke in fluent French about his North African heritage during the opening gala ceremony on Friday.

On stage with fellow jurors, including Jacob Elordi and Andrew Garfield, Guadagnino delivered a lyrical speech in which he revealed he had a personal bond to Morocco.

“My Algerian mother grew up in Casablanca. She was half-Moroccan, so I am half-Moroccan too,” said Guadagnino, whose jury will watch first and second features in competition during the week-long festival to award the Etoile d’Or Prize.

“For me, Marrakech and cinema are the same thing. The mystery of the image, the power of editing, of contrast, the beauty and devouring force that animates the cinema I love, it embodies Marrakech and Morocco,” the filmmaker continued.

He reminisced about his first trip to Marrakech in 2002, when he came to accompany a friend who was...

A sprawling lineup of filmmakers, including Sean Penn, Tim Burton, Alfonso Cuaron, Justine Triet, Ava DuVernay and David Cronenberg will attend the Marrakech Film Festival and take part in conversations in front of audiences.

In total, 18 directors, actors, screenwriters and producers from six continents will participate in on-stage discussions to reflect on their craft, lives and careers at the festival, which kicks off Nov. 29 and runs until Dec. 7.

Surpassing the talent roster of major international festivals such as Cannes or Venise, this year’s Marrakech conversations program will also includes Iranian director, screenwriter and producer Mohammad Rasoulof; Australian director and screenwriter Justin Kurzel; French director and screenwriter François Ozon; British actor Gemma Arterton; Brazilian director and screenwriter Walter Salles; Russian director and screenwriter Kirill Serebrennikov; Mauritanian director and screenwriter Abderrahmane Sissako (“Timbuktu”); Moroccan filmmakers Alaa Eddine Aljem (“The Unknown Saint”), Yasmine Benkiran (“Queens”), Ismaël El Iraki (“Zanka Contact”) and Kamal Lazraq...

Luca Guadagnino has been appointed jury president at the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival, replacing previously announced Thomas Vinterberg who has cancelled his attendance for family reasons.

Guadagnino will be joined by The Apprentice director Ali Abbasi, Indian director Zoya Akhtar (The Archies), American actor Patricia Arquette (Boyhood), Belgian actor Virginie Efira (Paris Memories), Australian actor Jacob Elordi ( Priscilla), British-American actor Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Moroccan actor Nadia Kounda (Summer Days) and Argentine director Santiago Mitre.

Guadagnino arrives at the festival fresh from the launch of Queer starring Daniel Craig, which follows other acclaimed films such as Call Me By Your Name and Challengers.

The Italian director talked of long ties with the city of Marrakech and its festival.

“I will never forget the first time I arrived in Marrakech: it must’ve been more than 20 years ago, when I was a guest of my friend Valentina Cervi,...

Luca Guadagnino will preside over the jury of the upcoming Marrakech International Film Festival, replacing Thomas Vinterberg, who had previously been appointed president of the fest’s jury but “had to excuse himself for family reasons,” according to a festival statement.

The fest also announced that Guadagnino will be joined by a top notch roster of fellow jurors comprising: Iranian director Ali Abbasi; Indian director Zoya Akhtar; American actor Patricia Arquette; Belgian actor Virginie Efira; Australian actor Jacob Elordi; British-American actor Andrew Garfield; Moroccan actor Nadia Kounda, and Argentine director Santiago Mitre.

“I will never forget the first time I arrived in Marrakech: it must’ve been more than 20 years ago, when I was a guest of my friend Valentina Cervi, who was sitting on the jury of the short film competition,” Guadagnino said in a statement.

“I had never been to Morocco before but my Algerian mother grew up...

Luca Guadagnino has stepped in to replace Thomas Vinterberg as jury president for this year’s Marrakech International Film Festival, which runs from November 29 to December 7.

Festival organisers said in a statement that Danish filmmaker Vinterberg “had to excuse himself for family reasons.”

Guadagnino will be joined on the jury by fellow filmmakers Ali Abbasi, Zoya Akhtar and Santiago Mitre, and actors Patricia Arquette, Virginie Efira, Jacob Elordi, Andrew Garfield and Nadia Kounda.

The Italian filmmaker, whose features Challengers and Queer are competing in this year’s awards season, said he first came to Marrakech two decades ago as a...

A project initially scheduled for a 2023 shoot has finally been greenlit, with Cineuropa confirming that Meryem Benm’Barek has been filming her sophomore feature since midway point last month. Behind the Palm Trees stars Sara Giraudeau and Driss Ramdi in leading roles, with strong support from Carole Bouquet, Olivier Rabourdin, Rachel O’Meara, and Nadia Kounda. Benm’Barek’s debut feature Sofia was a 2018 Cannes Un Certain Regard selection – winning the Best Screenplay in the section. Production is taking place in Tangier and Benm’Barek has re-teamed with her cinematographer Son Doan. A project was part of the 2022 Atlas Workshops in Marrakech, Tessalit Productions’ Jean Bréhat is producing.…...

Czech title Little Crusader takes Crystal Globe; works in progress winners announced.

The 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 20 - July 8) closed last night with a packed awards ceremony, whose winners included Czech movie Little Crusader, UK director Ken Loach and Us stars Jeremy Renner and Uma Thurman.

Scroll down for full list of winners

According to organisers, the festival was attended by 13, 734 accredited visitors. Of that number 11, 554 had festival passes, 398 were filmmakers, 1,165 film professionals, and 617 journalists.

There were a total of 505 film screenings and a total of 140 067 tickets were sold. A total of 207 films were shown: 179 feature films (144 full-length and 35 short) and 28 documentary films.

23 films received their world premiere, while 18 had their international premiere and 13 their European premiere. 183 screenings were personally presented by delegations of filmmakers. 96 Press & Industry screenings were held.

According to a festival release, 1,248 film buyers, sellers, distributors, film festival programmers, representatives of film institutions, and other industry professionals were accredited for the...

Czech title Little Crusader takes Crystal Globe; works in progress winners revealed.

The 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 20 - July 8) closed last night with a packed awards ceremony, whose winners included Czech movie Little Crusader, UK director Ken Loach and Us stars Jeremy Renner and Uma Thurman.

Scroll down for full list of winners

According to organisers, the festival was attended by 13, 734 accredited visitors. Of that number 11, 554 had festival passes, 398 were filmmakers, 1,165 film professionals, and 617 journalists.

There were a total of 505 film screenings and a total of 140 067 tickets were sold. A total of 207 films were shown: 179 feature films (144 full-length and 35 short) and 28 documentary films.

23 films received their world premiere, while 18 had their international premiere and 13 their European premiere. 183 screenings were personally presented by delegations of filmmakers. 96 Press & Industry screenings were held.

According to a festival release, 1,248 film buyers, sellers, distributors, film festival programmers, representatives of film institutions, and other industry professionals were accredited for the...