The 2006 Marrakech Film Festival came to a close last night, Dec. 9.
Dominik Graf's German drama Der Rote Kakadu / The Red Cockatoo, a love story set in 1961 Dresden, starring Max Riemelt and Jessica Schwarz (above), won the Étoile d'Or for best film. Riemelt, for his part, received the best actor award.
The Grand Jury Prize went to Romanian filmmaker Radu Muntean's political drama Hirtia va fi albastra / The Paper Will Be Blue, about a soldier who changes sides during Romania's bloody 1989 revolution.
French-Senegalese actress Fatou N'Diaye won the best actress award for her performance as a Rwandan waitress falling in love right the time of the Hutu genocide in Robert Favreau's Canadian drama Un dimanche à Kigali / A Sunday in Kigali.
More than 120 films were screened at the Marrakech festival, including 15 in competition for the Étoile d'Or. Franco-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski acted as president of the official competition jury.
Among the film professionals honored with career tributes during the festival's nine days were American actress Susan Sarandon, Bollywood stars Kajol and Ajay Devgan, Egyptian filmmaker Tawfiq Salah, and Moroccan actor Mohamed Majd (superb as the domineering Muslim patriarch in Le Grand voyage).
Additionally, a retrospective of about 50 films — arranged by American director Martin Scorsese — covered 60 years of Italian cinema.
Patrice Leconte's comedy Mon meilleur ami / My Best Friend, starring Daniel Auteuil and Julie Gayet (above), was the closing night gala screening.
Interesting choices; I thought both Kakadu and Albastra were muddled at best, but apparently I am missing the boat on this new trend: the less you can immediately comprehend, the better the film must be. Interesting.