A unanimous jury headed by Tilda Swinton awarded this year’s Etoile d’Or for best film to Colombia’s Valley of Souls directed by Nicolás Rincón Grille. The visually alluring but ultimately devastating human story concerns a tragic era in Colombia’s history back in 2002 and features locals affected by the event.
The Jury, who according to Tilda would “part as friends for life” awarded their own Prize, ex aequo, to Saudi Arabian family drama Last Visit by Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan, and Chinese feature Mosaic Portrait by Zhai Yixiang that aimed to raise awareness of the recent political turmoil through a girl’s experience at college.
Tunisian Ala Eddine Slim won Best Director for his visually striking Tlamess. The inspirational and largely existential piece was a love letter to everyone’s hopes and dreams.
In another ex aequo gesture the jury awarded Best female actor to the British actors Nichola Burley and Roxanne Scrimshaw who starred in yet another slice of British working class tragedy Lynn + Lucy.” And of course the winner had to cry to show her appreciation.
Ben Mendelsohn gamely accepted the Best Actor award on behalf of his co-star Australian actor Toby Wallace in Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth. The feature deals with the tricky theme of drug addiction which is something very close to Mendelsohn’s own heart.
This year’s festival once again hosted some memorable “conversations with” although Francois Busnel’s poor command of English and facile line of questioning left a lot to be desired in interviewing Robert Redford, who behaved like the perfect gentleman despite the inane approach: Besnel’s special subject is literature not film, so quite why he was chosen to moderate was anyone’s guess. Redford made his own personal tribute to George Roy Hill whose career he felt had been underestimated and rather side-lined. French director Bertrand Tavernier received his lifelong tribute with customary thoughtfulness and spoke of the extraordinary contribution European émigrés such as Otto Preminger, had made to Hollywood cinema. A selection of his own features were screened during the festival including the prescient 1988 feature Death Watch with its timely themes of fake news and social isolation.
Gillian Armstrong was one of the most impressive filmmakers talking on the subject of “unconscious bias” and encouraging women to “bluff more” – then she added “sorry, men”.
Harvey Keitel gave a hilariously entertaining conversation piece full of anecdotes and memories of his time with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, who received tributes at last year’s festival.
The Australian retrospective was well received and showed how films can age as well as vintage wine. Armstrong’s My Brilliant Career was a case in point, although Bruce Beresford’s Black Robe felt more dated with its Colonialist theme arguably not able to reach more modern audiences.
Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra also made a flying visit offering traction with her appeal to an international fanbase, and an open air screening of her film Bajirao Mastani played at the city’s Jemaa el Fna square
In his strong tenure as artistic director Christoph Terhechte has managed to boost public attendance, and he sadly steps down early to move on to his new post at Doc Leipzig, for personal reasons.
Marrakech takes pride in its 11th Continent sidebar which showcases more edgy and avantgarde international fare – rather like the Horizons section of Venice Film Festival. Standouts here were the outré Czech Slovac documentary Silent Days and Denis Cote’s Berlinale drama Ghost Town Anthology
Marrakech Film Festival also has a mission to promote African and Middle Eastern cinema and more than a third of the 65 new films came from this origin. On the home front, two Moroccan films were screened in the main programme: Maryam Touzani’s feature debut Adam, in the gala section, and Alaa Eddine Aljem’s The Unknown Saint, which competed in Official Selection.
In the Atlas Workshops, Marrakech awards films for other criteria, other than just acting and directing, and here some Moroccan films won awards. ‘Zanka Contact,” by Ismaël el Iraki, won the second prize in the post-production competition, and “The Original Lie,” by Asmae El Moudir, won the second prize in the development competition. MT
MARRAKECH FILM FESTIVAL 2019