Moroccan movie grabs Alexandria festival first prize

Moroccan movie "In Casablanca, Angels do not Fly" was awarded the first prize of the 20th International Cinema Festival of the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria after a unanimous vote of the Jury.

The Moroccan movie, by director Mohamed Asli, was chosen by the Jury chaired by French director Ive Bolsi and a number of jury member from Egypt, Tunisia, France, Spain and Syria.

The Palmares of the festival will be announced on Tuesday at a press conference to be moderated by movie critic Raouf Tawfik, president of the festival. The awarding ceremony will take place later the same day.

The Moroccan movie tells of villagers coming down from the Atlas mountains seeking jobs in Casablanca and experiencing the hardships of the big city.

The movie was presented in several festivals, namely in Cannes, Asilah (Northern Morocco) at the South-South festival, as well as in the First International Festival of Sale (twin city of Rabat) that wound up last Saturday and awarded Abdessamad Miftah Elkheir, starring in the movie, best masculine actor.

Some 45 Arab and foreign movies have been shown in the Alexandria Cinema festival.