The feature film Samia by director Yasemine Samederli (Germany, Italy, Belgium) won the grand prize at the 13th Dakhla International Film Festival, which concluded Wednesday evening. The jury prize went to Hanami by Denis Fernandes (Cape Verde, Portugal). Ibrahima M'Baye won Best Actor for his role in Ni chaînes ni maître (Benin, France), while Ilham Mohamed Osman took Best Actress for her performance in Samia. The special jury prize was awarded to Hayat, directed by Zeki Delirkubus (Turkey). In the short film category, the jury prize for Best Film went to Sokoun by Dina Naser (Jordan), and Marouane Labib (Tunisia) won Best Director for Leno Africa. Best Screenplay was awarded to Ne réveillez l'enfant qui dort by Aubert Kevin (Senegal/Cameroon), with Rendez-vous d'avant l'aube by John Van Aiglon (Congo) receiving a special mention. The festival's new Dakhla Project platform, supporting feature film projects, awarded first prize to Le champ by Mohamed Bouhari (Morocco), second prize to Tarfaya by Sofia Alaoui (Morocco), and third prize to En attendant la récolte by Sagou Banou (Mali). Festival president Charaf Eddine Zine El Abidine expressed satisfaction with strong public turnout at screenings, workshops, conferences, and masterclasses. He highlighted Dakhla's growing reputation as a key meeting place for filmmakers from the Global South. This 13th edition featured 18 fiction films, both feature-length and short, competing from countries including Benin, Senegal, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Congo, France, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan, UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, and host country Morocco.
