After nine full days of screenings, conversations, tribute programmes and industry events, the 21st edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival (29 November-7 December) drew to a close with an awards ceremony hosted at the city’s Palais des Congrès, where the jury crowned the winners of this year's gathering. This edition boasted a record number of 40,000 spectators, with 71 films from 32 countries making up the line-up across several strands.

This year’s Competition jury was chaired by Italian director Luca Guadagnino. He was joined by Iranian director Ali Abbasi, Indian helmer Zoya Akhtar, US thesp Patricia Arquette, Belgian actor Virginie Efira, Australian actor Jacob Elordi, British-US actor Andrew Garfield, Moroccan thesp Nadia Kounda and Argentinian director Santiago Mitre.

The jury bestowed the festival’s top prize, the Étoile d’Or, upon the kaleidoscopic, Haifa-set drama Happy Holidays [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Palestinian writer-director Scandar Copti, praising the film’s “magnificent mosaic of intertwined lives”. Happy Holidays, which premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section, winning the Award for Best Screenplay, also recently picked up the Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki just weeks ago (see the news).

The award was presented by Guadagnino to Mona Copti, the wife of the filmmaker, who collected the prize on his behalf and offered a brief acceptance speech to thunderous applause, in which she condemned “the crimes committed against our people and humanity as a whole”. Her speech also echoed a cinematic driving force that Copti also mentioned in his conversation with Cineuropa upon the film's premiere (see the interview): “None of us are free until we are all free, especially women,” she said.

The Award for Best Performance by an Actress was given out ex-aequo by Efira and Garfield to Happy Holidays actresses Wafaa Aoun and Manar Shehab, who play a tense mother and daughter, respectively, in the film. With Copti known for casting non-professional actors, the film also marks the first screen roles for the pair.

Damian Kocur’s Polish Oscar entry Under the Volcano [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] also took home two awards, one for Best Directing and the other for Best Performance by an Actor for Roman Lutskyi, who plays the movie’s embattled husband and father. Kocur, who accepted the award in Lutskyi’s absence, gave a message of hope for the end of the war in Ukraine. While collecting the directorial prize, a stunned Kocur also said, “I think cinema is about empathy,” embracing his positionality as a Polish director making a “very personal film” despite not being Ukrainian.

Silvina Schnicer’s Argentinian drama The Cottage picked up one of two Jury Prizes awarded ex-aequo, given out by Abbasi and Jounda. While Schnicer thanked the jury, producer Mercedes Córdova used her platform to bring attention to the fiscal cuts deeply impacting the state of Argentinian cinema. She praised the jury’s meaningful decision and called out Argentinian president Javier Milei for taking funding away from the country’s audiovisual industry: “Thank you for making us believe in it again,” said a tearful Córdova.

“The narrative of parenting and the loss of a loved one is as precise as it is universal,” said the jury about Somali director Mo Harawe’s first feature, The Village Next to Paradise [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the other Jury Prize awardee. Harawe presented the film as part of last year’s Atlas Workshops at the festival, where it also collected the €20,000 Atlas Post-Production Prize. The filmmaker dedicated the award to those who could not be present with him, acknowledging that for 80% of the crew, it was their first time on a film set: an impressive feat for the now-acclaimed movie.

Here is the full list of this year’s Marrakech International Film Festival award winners:

Étoile d’Or
Happy Holidays [+leggi anche:
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Jury Prize (ex aequo)
The Cottage – Silvina Schnicer (Argentina/Brazil/Spain/Chile)
The Village Next to Paradise [+leggi anche:
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Best Directing
Damian Kocur – Under the Volcano [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Poland)

Best Performance by an Actress (ex aequo)
Manar Shehab, Wafaa Aoun – Happy Holidays (Palestine/Germany/France/Italy/Qatar)

Best Performance by an Actor
Roman Lutskyi – Under the Volcano (Poland)