A first Moroccan animation film forum will be organized in Tetouan and Casablanca
Morocco is the guest of honor at the 20th edition of the Meknes International Animation Film Festival (FICAM) scheduled from May 6 to 11, 2022, announce the organizers of this event. Indeed, this anniversary edition celebrates the Moroccan animated film through the organization, on May 6, 7 and 8, of the 1st Moroccan Animation Film Forum which will bring together animation film professionals, representatives of Al Aoula and 2M, animation studios as well as the National Institute of Fine Arts in Tetouan and the School of Fine Arts in Casablanca. “This forum will allow discussion on the future of animated film in Morocco with the prospect, in the years to come, of organizing a market for Moroccan animated film in Meknes”, explains the same source.
Furthermore, FICAM is thus making a strong comeback with an exceptional cinematographic program but also with a residency program, an international competition for short and feature films and a cycle of professional meetings which gives pride of place to Moroccan animation. “This focus on Moroccan animated film is both a culmination and a great reward, for the entire festival team, of several years of effort,” it says.
Created in 2001, the FICAM organized by the Aïcha Foundation in partnership with the French Institute of Meknes aims, according to the initiators, to support Moroccan youth in the field of animated film. “Since 2004, a training component has been developed for young people from art and cinema schools. Then in 2005, the Grand Prix Aïcha de l’Animation was launched”.
The festival also opens up new aesthetic and cinematographic perspectives to this Moroccan youth thanks to its rich programming.
FICAM thus achieves the objectives carried by the Aïcha Foundation and the French Institute of Meknes since its birth: to confirm the city of Meknes as a Moroccan, Arab and African platform for animated film. “This approach is accompanied, as in each edition, by the presence of big names in international animated film. Personalities who generously share their experience and know-how with Moroccan youth”, conclude the organizers.