The Palestinian short film “After” by director Maha Haj won two awards at the closing ceremony of the 77th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, where the festival witnessed the world premiere of the film in the official short film competition.
The film received great acclaim during the festival, and the director received the Independent Youth Committee Award and the Jury Award for Best Short Film at the closing ceremony held today, Saturday.
In a statement, the director explained that the film is an elegy and a testament to the indomitable strength of the human spirit in a world dominated by suffering. Set against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the film presents Suleiman and Lubna’s journey as a poignant symbol of the magical power and limitless capacity of the human imagination.
She added that the story takes place in the future, where the film confronts the reality of a nation torn apart by decades of conflict with no political solutions to alleviate the suffering of parents who have lost everything, and thus it unfolds in a world unrestricted by time and place, which is a poignant reflection of irreparable loss.
The film stars Mohammed Bakri, Areen Al Omari, and Amer Halhel, and is a joint production between Palestine, Italy, and France.
The Special Jury Prize went to Iraqi-Austrian writer and director Cordwin Ayoub for his feature film “Mond” (The Moon). The film tells the story of a martial artist, Sara, who leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family.
Five Arab films competed in the various competitions at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, which was held from August 7 to 17. The festival witnessed more than 300 film screenings, with 225 films from more than 50 countries competing in the various competitions.
Among the Arab films is the Tunisian “Agora” by director Alaa Eddine Slim in the international competition, and the film “The Green Line”, a joint Lebanese-Qatari-French production by French director Sylvie Baliot, who deals in her film with the civil war in Lebanon in the 1980s.
The festival also witnessed the world premiere of the Tunisian film “The Red Offspring” directed by Lotfi Achour. The film is inspired by true events about a number of armed men attacking two young shepherds and beheading one of them, in events that took place in the Mount Mghila region in 2015.
This year, the festival honored the Bollywood star. Shah Rukh Khan New Zealand director Jane Campion, Swiss animator Claude Barras, and film producer Stacey Sher.
