Shaden Safieddine Tazi Shines at the Venice Film Festival
On September 12, 2026, the Venice Film Festival concluded with the crowning of May El-Toukhy, one of just two female directors in the official competition, for her film "Woman Unknown." In the Orizzonti category, which celebrates emerging filmmakers, the jury, led by French director Valérie Donzelli, awarded the Best Short Film prize to Moroccan-Lebanese director Shaden Safieddine Tazi for her poignant work titled "Quelques instants de bonheur." This short film competed against nineteen feature films and thirteen other short films, making Tazi's achievement even more remarkable.
Shaden Tazi's film, which runs for 18 minutes, follows a young director who, after leaving Beirut for Paris, becomes paralyzed with fear as she watches the news from Lebanon unfold from her bed during the onset of Israeli bombings. The film uniquely blends various forms of digital media such as screenshots, voice messages, personal archives, and snippets of conversations to illustrate the exchanges between her father, who remains in Lebanon, and his daughter in Paris. Tazi's work delves into the complexities of relationships strained by distance and the ways families reconnect through digital screens.
Having grown up in Casablanca, Tazi is the granddaughter of the renowned fashion designer Tamy Tazi, and she has also made her mark in the film industry. She is a graduate of Columbia University, where she studied cinematic and media studies. Her previous short film, "Un jour tout va disparaître," won the Best Cinematography award at the Tangier Film Festival and has been showcased internationally at various prestigious events such as the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Arab Film and Media Institute, and the Menart Fair. Tazi received support from the Ateliers Atlas at the Marrakech International Film Festival in 2025, which further bolstered her career in filmmaking.
As reported by fr.le360.ma.
