More honors for Kassari's 'Sleeping Child' movie
Morocco, Local, 6/22/2005

Once again, the "Sleeping Child" movie by Yasmine Kassari is honored by grabbing two prizes in Italy at the 7th edition of the Napoli film festival that run from June 5 to 16.

Starring actresses Mounia Ousfour and Rachida Brakni, the movie was awarded the first Vesuvio Award of the best long length movie and the Fondazione laboratorio mediteranio prize, said a communiquŽ of the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (CCM).

"Sleeping child" (or accurately sleeping foetus) by the Belgian-Moroccan director grabbed this past January the public and best actor prizes at the 17th one-week European film festival of Angers, France.

The movie had already won the "Great Amber 2004" prize and Rachida Brakni was awarded a honour at the film festival of Koszalin, Poland, in addition to the special distinction of the jury at the 2004 international competition of the 8th festival of Mediterranean cinema in Brussels. The movie was also awarded the public prize at the French-speaking 19th international film festival of Namur, Belgium,(2004) and the "European best film" distinction at the Mostra of Venice (2004) awarded by the international art and essay confederation (CICAE). The movie is about a newly wed woman whose husband illegally immigrates leaving the country in the morrow of the wedding. While waiting for her husband to come back, the woman, who gets pregnant, makes her foetus "sleep," but time goes by and the husband does not come back.

Yasmine Kassai turns this waiting into an effective reflection on the life of the women of rural Morocco, scene of important exoduses of masculine population. The protagonists of the film live their circumstances in a contradictory way, oscillating between the hope and the obstacle that represent the men, the absence of whom structures their lives and simultaneously the narrative thread of history. French titled "l'enfant endormi," the film was featured along many other Moroccan long feature-length movies: "Badis" of Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, "MŽmoire en detention" of Jilali Ferhati, at the Cannes Festival of last May.

At the 21st edition of Montreal's "Days of African and Creole cinema," held on April 14-24, the movie won the best long feature-length movie award.

Several Moroccan films won awards at the 20th edition of Mar del Plata Film Festival, held on March 10-20 in Argentina, including Kassari's which received the Astor de Plata (Silver Astor) award.

The movie scenario got the best scenario trophy of the National Center of cinematography in Paris, 2003, the "Filmer ˆ tout prix" scenario prize of Brussels and the development subsidy at the 22nd Montpellier festival of November 2000.

Yasmine Kassari is a script writer, filmmaker and producer born in Morocco in 1972. She studied cinema at the INSAS in Brussels and was internationally acclaimed for her documentary "Quand les hommes pleurent..." (2000), about labour drain to Spain. "L'enfant endormi," beautifully shot, offers a new perspective on the plight of young women in rural Morocco affected by male massive migrations.

Previous Stories:
  A new take of The Hills Have Eyes to be shot soon in Morocco   (6/20/2005)
  'Memoire en detention' grabs Golden Falcon in Rotterdam   (6/7/2005)
  Director Jilali Ferhati awarded tetuan film festival grand prize   (4/4/2005)

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