“It’s a real pleasure for me to be in Angoulême again. It’s a festival that I love very much and which is close to my heart,” confides to MAP this FFA regular who is joining, for its 17th edition , a prestigious jury chaired by Franco-British actress and director Kristin Scott Thomas, to decide between the ten films competing for the coveted “Valois d’Or”.
The director of the feature films “Adam” (2019) and “le bleu du caftan” (2022), already presented previously in Angoulême, evokes “a long and beautiful history” with this festival, an “important meeting place” for the world of French-speaking cinema.
“It’s a very good showcase for French-speaking cinema, which is very rich on a human level,” she emphasizes.
Maryam Touzani is particularly delighted to see the festival pay a beautiful tribute to Moroccan cinema which “is taking a very important place today, with talented filmmakers who have a lot to say”.
As a member of the jury, the director wishes to “discover and immerse body and soul” in the worlds of the films in competition.
Far from claiming to be an evaluation mission, it considers that the approach remains the same whether you are on one side or the other. “When we make films we want to share a look, a vision, a feeling, and then when we are on the other side, it is also about being open to welcoming this sharing and this experience”, deciphers -She.
“What I like about cinema is this sharing, being able to erase barriers when we enter each other’s worlds. It’s very beautiful,” she says.
In addition to being a jury member, the filmmaker will once again present her film “Adam” in Angoulême as part of a retrospective dedicated to Moroccan cinema.
The festival has selected no less than fifteen Moroccan films ranging from the very first feature film “Fils Maudit” by Mohamed Ousfour which will be screened as part of a Moroccan retrospective, to the feature films “La Damnée” by Abel Danan and ” Everybody Loves Touda” by Nabil Ayouch, offered in preview.
“It’s a very beautiful selection, rich and very interesting,” comments the Moroccan director.
As for her projects, Maryam Touzani reveals that she is preparing her next film, a short film which will be shot in Tangier, her hometown.
“It’s a bit of a homecoming. I’m coming back to Tangier for my third short film,” said the director whose first short film “When They Sleep” (2012) was also filmed in the city of Detroit.
But the next film will have “a rather particular taste”, in her eyes, because it meets her “personal story”, she explains.
In total, more than sixty films will be presented during the 17th edition of the FFA, including ten in competition and around fifteen in preview.
Since Tuesday, the city of Angoulême has been draped in the colors of Morocco whose flag, as the guest country of honor of the FFA, will remain raised throughout the festival at the town hall.
Created in 2008 and dedicated to French-speaking cinema, the FFA is held in the city of Angoulême, in Charente in the southwest of France. Every year, at the end of summer, it establishes itself as the unmissable event of the cultural return to France.