Dutch Film "Rafaël" Wins Top Prize at Agadir Migration Film Festival

"Rafaël" is a 2018 film (1 hr 45 min) that addresses a well-known theme: the refugee crisis. According to the synopsis, the film traces the adventure of a young Tunisian, married to a hairdresser, Kimmy. The couple’s life will receive a blow when the man is forced by the Arab Spring to flee to Europe. The hardest part begins for him when he realizes that his journey ends in Lampedusa as a prisoner and illegal immigrant.

"Rafaël" will have the merit of standing out from the many other films that deal with this same theme of the refugee crisis by having addressed it in a subtle way, from a very European perspective. Released last year, "Rafaël" allowed its director, the Dutchman Ben Sombogaart, to win the highest distinction of the event, in the "feature film" category, while the Grand Prix in the "short film" category went to the Franco-Moroccan director Fouad Mansour, for his film "Le Chant d’Ahmed".

The International Film and Migration Festival of Agadir (FICMA) also awarded several other distinctions. This is the case of the best directing award, which went to the film "Le jeune Ahmed" by the Belgian directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. The best screenplay award was given to the Dutch director for his feature film "Broeders", while the best female performance award went to the Franco-Moroccan actress Soraya Hachoumi for her performance in "Soumaya". The best male performance award was won by the Moroccan-Belgian actor Nabil Mallat for his role in the film "Rafaël".

This 16th edition of the FICMA saw the participation of big names in African cinema who sat on the two juries, including among others, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Malian politician and former Minister of Culture, the Tunisian actress Fatma Ben Saidane, the Franco-Moroccan director Ismaël Ferroukhi, the Italian director Annamaria Gallone and the French director Manuel Sanchez, to name but a few.