The narrative feature prize, Tarifa’s Griot, was won by David Constantin’s “Lonbraz Kann” (“In the shade of sugar canes,” Mauritius, France, Mozambique, Reunion, 2014), with Hassen Ferhani’s “Fi Rassi Rond-Point” (“A roundabout in my head,” Algeria, France, Lebanon and Qatar, 2015) receiving a special mention.

On the documentary side, Hisham Elladdaqi’s “La Route du Pain” (“The bread road,” Morocco, France, Belgium, 2015) took home the Concord’s Award for the best documentary feature, an award named after the festival’s strive for amity between the European and African shores of the Strait of Gibraltar, particularly the cities of Tarifa and Tangier, where the festival was staged between May 26 and June 4, 2016.

The Award for the best short film, given by the festival’s Youth Jury, went to Farid Bentoumi’s “Un Métier bien” (“A good job,” Algeria, France, 2015). The Tunisian actress and singer Ghalia Benali received the Award for best actress with her performance as the mother of the main character in “A peine j’ouvre les yeux” (“As I open my eyes’,” Tunisia, France, Belgium, 2015), a feature length film by Leyla Bouzid.

FCAT

Oliver Hermanus’ “The Endless River” (South Africa, France, 2015) was awarded by Tarifa’s and Tangier’s audiences with the Two Shores Award for the best fiction feature film.

Two juries evaluated a total number of 28 feature length films, documentaries and short films competing for five different awards during the festival. On the one hand, an Official Jury composed of Annouchka de Andrade, from the Institut Français; Reda Benjelloun, from Morocco’s national TV channel 2M; and Javier Mohendano, Tarifa’s former municipal councilor for Education, Culture and Tourism. On the other hand, a Youth Jury composed of five Spanish audiovisual arts students.

Mauritius, Moroccan, Algerian and South African filmmakers and actors awarded

“Lonbraz Kann,” the awarded feature length film, is the second such film ever produced in Mauritius. It took its director, David Constantin, eight years to complete it. The jury of the festival decided to give recognition to this film for the subtle oppositions it represents, for example between local and universal realities as well as between global challenges and daily life. “Without artifice, David Constantin transmits an island’s reality and interrogates the audience about the world of tomorrow”, said the Jury.

The film narrates the story of a group of sugar factory workers. Suddenly, the factory closes and the workers become powerless witnesses of the transformation of their worlds: where once sugar grew, now they are building a luxury residential area and soon a golf course will have taken the place of their homes. The morale of the film is that, despite the violence of the economical development from which people are often excluded, as well as the humiliations people they may suffer daily, little by little, humanity, more powerful than domination, can appear.

David Constantin has directed several short films and documentaries that have been awarded in international film festivals. He actively participates in trainings and promotes the distribution and dissemination of cinema produced in the Indian ocean.

In turn, the documentary “La Route du Pain,” awarded with the ‘Concord’s Award’, is Hicham Elladaqi’s first length documentary. According to the Jury, “this film shows with sobriety the daily lives of Marrakesh’s inhabitants, far from tourism and folklore. Leaving no room for misery, the film speaks about these people’s dignity in the urban jungle.

The film narrates the invisible routine of some of the inhabitants of Marrakech’s inner city. Dozens of men and women come daily to the Medina’s walls, hoping someone will give them some work. In the film, they are the invisible workers or the indispensable linchpin of Marrakech’s economic development, which is based on a thriving touristic industry.

Hicham Elladdaqi was born in Marrakech in 1982 and studied editing at the Marrakech ESAV, the first cinema school in Morocco. His first short film as a director, “Some Feet Cannot Dance,” was screened at several international film festivals.

The Two Shores Award for the Best Fiction Feature Film was awarded to “The Endless River.” The award was given by Mohamed Bachir Abdellaoui, the mayor of the city of Tangier (Morocco) and Francisco Ruiz Giráldez, the mayor of Tarifa (Spain).

“The Endless River” is Hermanus’ third feature film. It follows the love story, during South Africa’s post-apartheid, between a young waitress and her husband in the small town of Riviersonderend (Endless River), after his four-year jail sentence. Trapped in a cycle of violence and bloodshed, the two form an unlikely bond seeking to transcend their mutual anger, pain and loneliness. Hermanus, an established South African filmmaker, has so far directed several short films, documentaries and three feature length films.

The official jury also decided to give a special mention to “Fi Rassi Rond-Point,” directed by Hassen Ferhani. The feature length film tells the story of the men working and living at the largest slaughterhouse in Algiers. Beyond characters worthy of a fiction that ranges from drama to comedy, from grotesque to surreal, it is a portrait of contemporary Algerian society, of its hopes and contradictions. According to the Jury, the film is worth a special mention due to the aesthetic quality of its “behind-closed-doors” narration, which draws generalizations on Algerian society based on the lives and destiny of a group of individuals.

The Youth Jury granted the Award to the best short film to “Un métier bien” directed by Farid Bentoumi. They Jury was impressed by the film’s polyhedral view on jihadism, far from ideological paternalism, with powerful images and a high technical quality. The 24-minutes short film tells the story of Hakim, a young Frenchman of North African origin, who decides to find a good job and to sort himself out. His neighborhood does not offer much and Hakim ends up selling hijabs in a shop run by fervent Muslims.

Lastly, Ghalia Benali, an actress and singer of Tunisian origin, won the Award for best actress in her role as the mother of Farah, the main character of the film “À peine j’ouvre les yeux.” The Award was sponsored by the Spanish Foundation Mujeres por Africa.

Spain

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