31/10/2022 - Youssef Chebbi’s movie wins the Golden Antigone, the Critics’ Prize and the music trophy, while Mother Valley scoops an Audience Award

The winners and jury members of the 2022 Cinemed (© Cinemed)

Ashkal [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Youssef Chebbi has been crowned the winner of the 2022 Golden Antigone by a jury led by the duo Rachida Brakni and Éric Cantona, who named it Best Fiction Feature Film of the 44th Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival. The Tunisian director’s second feature film also curried favour with the Critics’ Jury, as well as bagging the award for Best Music (composed by Thomas Kuratli). Discovered in the Directors’ Fortnight and subsequently screened in Toronto, the movie is sold worldwide by The Party Film Sales and will be released in French cinemas on 25 January, courtesy of Jour2Fête.

The Audience Award, for its part, went to Mother Valley, which is the debut feature film directed by actor Carlos Chahine, notably starring Marilyne Naaman, Joy Hallak, Nathalie Baye and Pierre Rochefort. Written by Chahine himself, the story takes us back to 1958 as the revolution rumbles away in Beirut. Three sisters are spending the summer in a holiday resort in a remote village in the Lebanese mountains. They consist of rebellious Nada, romantic Eva and, first and foremost, the respectable and well-liked eldest sibling Layla. But that summer, the danger posed by the approaching war and the arrival of two French holiday makers lead perfect mother and wife Layla to disregard appearances and rebel against the patriarchal society which holds her under its thumb. Mother Valley will be distributed in France by JHR Films and Jour2Fête. International sales are entrusted to France tv distribution.

Also worth a mention is the Best First Film award, which was won by French-Portuguese director Cristèle Alves Meira’s Alma Viva [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristèle Alves Meira
film profile] (which Tandem are distributing in France from 15 March 2023), as well as the victory in the documentary sphere for Leïla Chaïbi’s French-Tunisian co-production Guardian of the Worlds, and the special mention for Chloé Lecci López’s French-produced, medium-length movie Tutto apposto gioia mia.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Feature Films

Golden Antigone
Ashkal [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Youssef Chebbi (Tunisia/France)

Critics’ Award
Ashkal - Youssef Chebbi

Audience Award
Mother Valley - Carlos Chahine (Lebanon/France)

Social Energy Activities Prize
For My Country [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rachid Hami
film profile] - Rachid Hami (France)

Jam Best Music Award
Thomas Kuratli - Ashkal

Student Award for Best First Film
Alma Viva [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristèle Alves Meira
film profile] - Cristèle Alves Meira (Portugal/France/Belgium)

Short Films

Montpellier Mediterranean Metropolis Grand Prize for Best Short
Cuerdas - Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain)

Special Mention
Virée sèche - Théo Laglisse (France)

“La Gazette” - Titra Film Audience Award
A.O.C. - Samy Sidali (France)

City of Montpellier Young Audience Award
A.O.C. - Samy Sidali

Canal+ Award
Tria – del sentimento del tradire - Giulia Grandinetti (Italy)

Documentaries

Montpellier Mediterranean Metropolis Ulysse Decipro Prize
Guardian of the Worlds - Leïla Chaïbi (France/Tunisia/Qatar)

Special Mention
Tutto apposto gioia mia - Chloé Lecci López (France) (medium-length film)

(Translated from French)