The Moroccan Amazigh short film Ayur (The Moon) won third prize in the Cinéville Film Schools Short Film Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, an award that nearly two thousand art projects from around the world competed for.
Moroccan film director Zineb Wakreim announced her film won the award on her Facebook account and expressed her pride in Morocco's coronation.
Moroccan critic and journalist Bilal Mermid said that Zainab Wakreim was crowned in a competition that included major international film schools, and praised her representation of the Higher School of Visual Arts in Marrakech.
Mermid pointed out that the coronation confirms that "Morocco does not lack competencies in the field, and belief in the capabilities of young people is more important than relying on those who are unable to create."
The suffering of the children of the moon
The film follows the story of Samad and Hasnaa from two Amazigh families, who share one health suffering, which is severe sensitivity to sun exposure, known as "Children of the Moon", where Wakrim succeeded in conveying the suffering of the two protagonists in a human way.
Moroccan filmmaker Zine Ouakrim (Wakreem's Facebook account)
In local press statements, Wakreem said about the selection of her film in the competition; it is a recognition that she is on the right track, especially since she is a recent graduate of the Higher School of Visual Arts, and that her attendance at the festival is her crown, and she hoped that the film would receive a positive interaction with the issue it discusses.
She pointed out that her choice of "Ayur" as the title of the film reflects her Amazigh culture, as she hails from the Tafroat region (southern Morocco), which is also the common denominator of the two children in the film, and said that the choice of "moon" attracts more attention than "children of the moon".
The young director explained that she was excited about the idea of the film after watching the film "The Black House" by the Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad, which deals with leprosy patients in Iran in the sixties of the last century, which prompted her to go through her experience about the children of the moon who have patience and hold on to hope in life.