Tetouan — The 31st Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival is putting unfinished films and emerging filmmakers at the center of its professional program as a three-day training initiative reaches its final day today, October 8.
“Talents en courts” (Talents in Shorts) began on October 6 and concludes today with a final training session, exchanges with the instructor, and the distribution of participation certificates.
The program has included practical exercises and project development sessions at the French Cultural Center of Tetouan. Participants can also attend festival screenings using their accreditation badges.
The training runs alongside the fourth edition of the “Ateliers de Tetouan” (Tetouan Workshops), another initiative focused on filmmakers developing fiction and documentary projects.
This year, the workshops bring together 10 projects by 11 filmmakers from Morocco, Türkiye, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and France. The selection includes documentary projects by Faiçal Benaghrou and Ghina Daou, while Turkish filmmaker Beril Tan is among the fiction participants.
The wider festival continues until October 10. Its 31st edition opened on October 3 with screenings, competitions, professional meetings, workshops, and discussions around Mediterranean cinema.
Faiçal Benaghrou puts a feature into five minutes
Moroccan director and producer Faiçal Benaghrou came to Tetouan with his first creative feature documentary, “Quand le temps se dissout dans le silence” (When Time Dissolves into Silence).
Benaghrou is based in Toulouse and founded Film Beldi Production in Rabat. He began his filmmaking career through editing and assistant directing before developing his own fiction and documentary work.
His short film “Ales” received a Special Jury Mention at Morocco’s National Film Festival in Tangier. His earlier development work also included the feature project “Barzakh.”
At the Tetouan workshops, one of his main challenges has been reducing a feature-length project into a five-minute pitch.
“You have an entire story that could unfold over 90 minutes, but you have to present it in five minutes,” Benaghrou told Lifestyle magazine.
He said the process forced him to think more carefully about dramatic structure, characters, locations, and the opening element capable of immediately drawing listeners into the project.
Feedback from fellow participants also became part of the process.
Benaghrou described the opportunity to exchange perspectives with filmmakers and producers from different countries as one of the workshop’s most useful elements.
Maxime De Almeida searches for the film’s next partners
Producer Maxime De Almeida is accompanying Benaghrou’s documentary through Maelstrom Studios.
Based in the Bordeaux area, Maelstrom Studios works across film, audiovisual production, and post-production. De Almeida studied at INAsup and has worked across cinema and audiovisual projects before joining the company.
For him, the Tetouan workshops serve a practical purpose beyond improving a pitch.
“We are now looking for broadcasters and additional financing,” De Almeida told Lifestyle magazine.
The documentary has already received support in Morocco and France, but its producers are seeking further financing and distribution partners.
De Almeida said presenting the film in Tetouan allowed him to introduce it to new professionals while also meeting directors and producers developing their own projects.
That exchange is central to the workshops, where a pitch can become the beginning of a financing conversation, a production partnership, or another stage of development.
Ghina Daou and Beril Tan join the international selection
Lebanese filmmaker Ghina Daou is also participating in this year’s documentary selection.
A director, writer, and actor, Daou studied audiovisual arts at Saint Joseph University in Beirut before completing a master’s degree in directing and creation at Paris 8 University.
She directed and acted in the short film “As We Go” and later appeared in Wissam Charaf’s “Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous.” Daou has also been developing a personal feature documentary connected to questions of identity, exile, memory, and women’s experiences between Lebanon and France.
Turkish filmmaker Beril Tan is participating on the fiction side.
Tan studied cinema at Istanbul Bilgi University and began working on television and commercial sets before directing her own films.
Her first short, “Farklı Bir Yas” (A Different Kind of Mourning), circulated internationally and received several awards. Her second short, “Alis,” won the national short film award at the 2025 Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. She is currently developing feature-length work.
Their presence in the lineup of the Tetouan festival reflects the program’s cross-Mediterranean structure, which places Moroccan filmmakers beside participants working across different cinematic traditions and production environments.
Bachir Edkhil sees promise in younger filmmakers
Moroccan writer and political scientist Bachir Edkhil is among the jury members evaluating projects in the “Ateliers de Tetouan.”
Born in Laayoune, Edkhil studied education sciences, Hispanic studies, and political science. He has worked as a writer, researcher, and cultural figure, and previously served on Morocco’s national commission supporting film production.
The films and projects presented by younger participants have left a strong impression, Edkhil told Lifestyle magazine.
“The films we have seen so far are very encouraging,” he said. “There is real ambition among these young men and women.”
For Edkhil, the seriousness with which young filmmakers are approaching cinema matters as much as the competition itself.
He said their ability to develop an idea and communicate it through film already represents an important achievement.
Training beyond the screening room
The “Talents en courts” program is being led by Egyptian screenwriter and actor Nasser Abdel-Rahmane, whose career includes socially engaged screenwriting and collaborations with major figures in Egyptian cinema.
His credits include “Chaos,” “Genainat el-Asmak,” and “Dokkan Shehata.” The program describes his work as closely connected to social realities and questions facing Egyptian society.
Program materials also highlight Moroccan director and screenwriter Mohamed Chrif Tribak, a filmmaker trained at La Fémis in Paris whose work moves between cinema, television, and writing.
His filmography includes short films, television productions, and the feature “Le Temps des camarades” (The Time of Comrades), with recurring interests in memory, relationships, and changes within Moroccan society.
Today’s final sessions bring the three-day training program to a close, but many of the projects presented in Tetouan remain at the beginning of a much longer process.
