Tétouan Mediterranean Film Festival: A Hub for Cinematic Exchange
The Tétouan Mediterranean Film Festival, scheduled to take place from October 3 to 10, 2026, is set to dedicate a significant portion of its programming to the transfer of knowledge, professional exchanges, and discussions surrounding the current issues and transformations within the Mediterranean cinema landscape. According to an announcement from the organizers, the 'Tétouan Workshops' will feature two intellectual seminars and a collaborative program with the Italian city of Matera. This initiative aims to bring together filmmakers, producers, writers, researchers, and emerging talents for a series of meetings focused on collaboration, reflection, and the sharing of experiences.
This fourth edition of the 'Tétouan Workshops' serves as a crucial component of the Tétouan Mediterranean Film Festival, continuing its mission to support cinema projects that are still in the development phase. This year’s script development competition showcases ten projects presented by eleven filmmakers, encompassing both documentary and narrative films. The 'Tétouan Workshops' fund, recognized as one of the festival's standout programs, is dedicated to developing screenplays for projects currently being written, with the objective of nurturing new voices in Mediterranean cinema.
The selected projects include contributions from filmmakers hailing from Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, France, and Morocco, with a blend of documentary and narrative films. Notable documentary projects include works by Osman Selil and Julia Le Noël (joint direction), Faisal Bengrou, and Zainab Shafshouni Moussaoui and Gina Dou. Additionally, the narrative film projects are represented by Peryl Tan, Lina Arious, Osama Ousous, Rida Lahmouid, Yassine El Idrissi, and Siba Younes. These projects will be presented before a jury composed of industry professionals such as Karim Aitouna, a producer from Morocco and France, British journalist Mohamed Reda, Moroccan writer and political analyst Bashir Al-Dakhil, and Italian actress and producer Pilar Saavedra Peruta.
The 'Tétouan Workshops' will provide the selected project holders with financial support dedicated to script development, along with a workspace for project preparation and pitching, as well as opportunities to exchange experiences with industry professionals. Furthermore, the festival will host a three-day training course under the 'Talents in Short Film' program, aimed at students from various film and arts schools across Morocco. This training will allow participants to explore all stages of short film production, from scriptwriting to directing, through practical workshops, experience sharing, and meetings with professionals in the field.
Intellectual Engagement and Cultural Dialogue
The festival, coordinated by Moroccan filmmaker Mohamed Sharif Al-Tarbiq and Egyptian filmmaker Nasser Abdel Rahman, also proposes two spaces for intellectual engagement concerning the transformations impacting cinematic creativity and its relationship with audiences. The first seminar, titled 'New Economies of Cinema in the Mediterranean,' will examine the evolution of production, financing, and distribution models amidst the technological and economic changes affecting the sector. Key topics for discussion will include co-productions, film circulation, digital platforms, national markets, and cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean, featuring notable participants such as Said Hamish, Hala Lotfi, Peter Marcias, and Caroline Lucardi Al-Arqi, with Khalid Al-Zayari moderating the session.
The second seminar, titled 'Films and Cinemas: Reception Challenges,' will delve into the relationship between films and their audiences, cinematic memory, and the role of images in individual and collective narratives. Participants will include poet and screenwriter Soukaina Habib Allah, writer and novelist Abdel Qader Al-Shawi, poet, novelist, and art critic Hassan Najmi, and writer and philosopher Abdel Rahim Zaid, with Zahra Lahiyoui leading the discussion.
Additionally, the festival will initiate a cinematic dialogue between the Mediterranean cities of Tétouan and Matera, featuring a 'Free Selection' segment from the Matera Film Festival as part of the collaborative effort between Tétouan and Matera, under the initiative 'Matera and Tétouan, Mediterranean Capitals of Culture and Dialogue 2026.' This program, executed in collaboration with Cinecittà and supported by several Italian institutions, will bring together Moroccan and Italian professionals to discuss prospects for cultural and cinematic cooperation between the two countries.
An institutional seminar will present initiatives developed in Matera throughout 2026, while a professional session titled 'Italian and Moroccan Producers: New Prospects for Co-Production' will explore co-production, distribution, and project development opportunities, featuring Italian producer Mario Mazzarotto alongside various Moroccan professionals. The audience will also have the chance to discover a selection of films from the Matera Film Festival, with an Italian delegation in attendance. This cooperation is expected to continue in November 2026 in Matera, where a delegation from the Tétouan Festival will participate in various activities alongside prominent figures from Moroccan cinema.
Through these diverse programs, the Tétouan Mediterranean Film Festival positions the transfer of knowledge, thoughtful dialogue, and collaboration among Mediterranean cinemas as central themes of its thirty-first edition. As reported by maroc.ma.
