'One Thousand Months' movie awarded twice in Damascus festival

Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi's film "One Thousand Months" was awarded the Silver Trophy and a prize of the best Arab film in Damascus international cinema festival that wound up Saturday.

The Syrian movie fans who attended the festival were moved by film' closer depiction of living reality in the Arab states through a perfect use of the image which made it accessible to them despite the handicap of the Moroccan dialect, Moroccan actress Fatima Kheir told MAP.

She added that Moroccan cinema has succeeded, through films such as Bensaidi's, to rank among the greatest world and Arab cinema.

The festival's gold trophy went to Japan's "Dolls" of Tichikitano, while the Bronze trophy was awarded to the Chilian movie "Historias minimas." The best comedy was extended to "Sahar Ellayali" (Egypt) and the jury's special prize to Abdellatif Abdelhamid for "What the auditors want" from Syria.

450 films from 43 countries, among which Morocco, were shown at this one-week festival.