Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s drama Happy Holidays has clinched the Étoile d’Or for Best Film at the Marrakech Film Festival.
The Jury Prize was awarded ex aequo to Argentinian director Silvina Schnicer’s The Cottage and Somali and Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise. Damian Kocur won the Best Directing Prize for his Under the Volcano, which is Poland’s Oscar entry this year.
The prize for Best Performance by an Actress was shared this year by Wafaa Aoun and Manar Shehab for their performances in Happy Holidays, while Roman Lutskyi won award for Best Performance by an Actor for his work in Kocur’s Under the Volcano.
Happy Holidays is a contemporary Haifa-set drama in which a minor car accident sets off a chain of events, unraveling lies and unspoken truths that sow division within a multifaceted patriarchal society.
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This year’s star-studded jury was presided over by Luca Guadagnino and also featured Iranian director Ali Abbasi, Indian director Zoya Akhtar, US actor Patricia Arquette, Belgian actor Virginie Efira, Australian actor Jacob Elordi, British-US actor Andrew Garfield, Moroccan actor Nadia Kounda, and Argentinian director Santiago Mitre.
This year’s 21st edition of festival was attended by a record 40,000 spectators, including 7,500 children and teenagers as part of the Young Audiences and Families program.
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