Marrakech – The Moroccan director Salma El Belghiti’s short film “Darhome” has won the Golden Rose of the Sands award in the documentary competition at the second International Sahara Film Festival. The awards were announced Saturday evening in Ksar Ghilane, in southern Tunisia.
“Darhome,” a 16-minute production, explores the challenging daily lives of young people from underprivileged neighborhoods in Tangier, who face social exclusion.
In the film, they participate in a roundtable discussion, reading a script inspired by their own lives and acting out scenes, engaging in a form of therapeutic storytelling.
In the same category, the Tunisian film “En attendant Mohamed Ali,” co-directed by Abdelhamid Bessi and Myriam Ben Salah, received the Silver Rose of the Sands award.
For the fiction films category, Iranian director Omid Marzari’s “Alone Together” took home the Golden Rose of the Sands award, the festival’s grand prize.
The Silver Rose of the Sands in the fiction category went to the Jordanian film “Trawida” by Mouni Abou Samra, while the “Bronze Rose” was awarded to “De… à…” by Lebanese filmmaker Yara Chreyan.
The second International Sahara Film Festival, held from October 29 to November 1 in the heart of the Tunisian desert in Ksar Ghilane, aims to highlight the Sahara as a cultural, cinematic, and tourist destination.
