Francis F. Coppola receives gold star distinction at Marrakesh film festival
Morocco-Regional, Local, 9/20/2002

Leading American film director, Francis Ford Coppola, received on Wednesday "the Golden star" at the fanciful opening ceremony of the 2nd Marrakesh film festival which opened on Wednesday in this central Moroccan city.

Coppola who directed such big movies as the Godfather (I, II and III), Apocalypse Now, Dracula and others received the award from French legendary actress Jeanne Moreau who is also chairing the festival's feature film jury.

Welcomed on stage by a cheering audience, Coppola said he was very happy to return to Morocco "a country he loves" and thanked King Mohammed VI for this tribute paid to him in Morocco.

Designed to be the African version of Cannes Festival, the festival is also poised to become a major annual event highlighting the values of openness and tolerance and a space of encounters and dialogue among various artistic and cultural trends.

Morocco, which already hosted the shooting of such renowned movies as Orson Welles' Othello, David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, and Scorcese's Kundun, wants to promote its beautiful scenery and landscape to attract more international movie productions. At the same time, efforts are made to develop Morocco's own motion picture industry.

In addition to Coppola, other Hollywood big stars are expected, including David Lynch whose Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks were highly ranked on the international cinema productions. Scorcese, apologized from coming and said he is busy with the editing of his latest "Gang of New York." He has however promised to be in Morocco for the movie premiere.

The ochre city is also welcoming other cinema stars like Egypt's Youssef Chahine who was already present in the first festival, Israeli Amos Gitai, Irish Neil Jordan and French Patrice Cehreau and Benoit Jacquot.

A special tribute will be paid by the festival to the Iranian cinema and to Indian Aamir Khan, who produced and starred in "Laagan" which will be screened as part of "a view on Bollywood" event.

The jury of the short-movie contest will be chaired by Tunisian movie director Moufida Tadlali while Yamina Benguigui who obtained last year's grand prize for her "Inch'allah Dimanche" chairs the jury of a special contest held by the Francophone TV station "TV5" for the best movie of the south (Morocco, Tunisia, Chad, Lebanon, Algeria, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Senegal).

The festival further schedules two colloquia on "powers and responsibilities of cinema," chaired by French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, and "national cinema between creation and industry" to be chaired by Nicolas Seydous, CEO of Gaumont production company.

Previous Stories:
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  Morocco's Samira Bensaid Wins Best Arab Song Prize   (8/2/2002)
  Egyptian actress Leila Elwi chairs film Jury in Rabat Festival   (7/11/2002)
  Khouribga African cinema festival kicks off next week   (7/6/2002)

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