The first Mediterranean Short Film Festival has been launched in the Tunisian City of Tanja and will continue until September 18, 2002, according to the daily al Sharq al Awsat.
The festival includes a formal contest in which 20 short movies that represent a number of Mediterranean countries will participate including Morocco, France, Algeria, Italy, Lebanon, Syria, Spain, Portugal, Palestine, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Croatia. The Moroccan Ministry of Culture and the Cinema Center have organized the festival.
The festival includes screening a number of short Moroccan films, which have won international prizes in addition to the films, produced during the period between the fifties and the year 2000. These include the film “Our Friend the Teacher” which was produced by al A’rabi Banshkaron in 1956; Liali Andulisiyyah by al A’rabi Banani in 1963; Hidden Memory by Daoud Awlad al Sayyed in addition to Travel in the Past, by Ahmed Boulan and Seventh Heavens by Narges al Reghai.
The festival will be headed by the Moroccan director Latif al Hilo while the jury will be headed by the Moroccan writer al Taher Banglon. The jury includes the Italian actress Piatres Palm, Pierre Pitio, head of Mediterranean Film Festival in Montpellier in France and Costas Kapakas, Greek film director, as members.
The winning films will be donated modest prizes ranging between $US 2000-5000 including the festival’s grand prize, jury prize and the prize for best work in addition to the prize for best acting.
It is noteworthy to mention that Tanja (North Morocco) hosted the first Mediterranean film festival in 1968 while the fourth Moroccan film festival organized there in 1995 represented a real start for the Moroccan short film -- Albawaba.com
