FICAM opens its curtains with focus on Italy

MEKNES - The 22nd edition of the Meknes the International Festival of Animated Cinema (FICAM) opened Friday its curtains for the first time at the historic Cinema Camera in the imperial Moroccan city of Meknes with a focus on Italy.

FICAM, which is held May 10-15 under the High Patronage of King Mohammed VI and organized by the Aïcha Foundation in partnership with the French Institute of Meknes, kicked off with the feature film “Chicken for Linda!” by Chiara Malta (Italy) and Sébastien Laudenbach (France).

Mardoche Devico, President of the Aïcha Foundation said at the opening ceremony that FICAM remains over the years the indispensable meeting place between professionals and amateurs, big names in animated cinema and young graduates from art and audiovisual schools.

“The animation cinema professions forum opened its doors this morning for its third edition, and for the first time in Morocco Arab and African studios are present this forum in addition to Moroccan studios,” said Devico.

“A real platform, exchange platform supports the current dynamic in the animated film sector that our country knows that our country promotes the meeting of students with potential employers and ultimately aims to create the first animated film market on the African continent,” he added.

Devico said that his company “Les Conserves de Meknes-Aïcha”, through its Foundation, continues to invest in positioning FICAM among major international animation film festivals in addition to contributing to the emergence of young Moroccan talents.

“Our ambition as the Aïcha Foundation is to continue to raise the festival to the rank of major cultural events in our country,” he said.

“We will also continue to support the emergence of a real industry around the animation professions and call on all stakeholders to support us,” he added.

Youth and Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid hailed FICAM’s role in promoting the animated cinema industry in Morocco.

Bensaid said that, by celebrating its 22 years, FICAM has demonstrated the perseverance and the spirit of the success of the mission.

“In 2004 the first FICAM hosted in Meknes was then only seen as an imported product, also a consumer product and a product of passive consumption. 22 years later, a strong and competitive cultural and creative industry, ecosystems one after the other are being structured,” he added.

FICAM paid tribute to the legendary animation veteran Bill Plympton along with Moroccan animator Hamid Semlali, the pioneer of the animated cinema in Morocco whose creation of an advert of a canned Sardine brand has marked Moroccans in the 1980s.

The 2024 Grand Prix AICHA 2024 was awarded to Aïcha to Nouhayla El Hassani for her animated short film project “L’éléphant du Cheikh.”

This 50,000-dirham ($5,000) reward will help Hassani carry out her project. She will also benefit from a scholarship awarded by the French Embassy as well as a one-month artistic residency at the Abbey de Fontevraud in France.

The Festival is offering a rich program for over 10 days in 11 cities of the North African Kingdom.

The Jury of the International Competition for the best animated short film, which will be presided by Canadian filmmaker Theodore Ushev, will decide between more than fifty short films carefully selected for the competition.

For the first time in its history, FICAM is offering six programs of animated short films instead of five, offering the public the opportunity to discover gems of international animation.

FICAM also offers an animated feature film competition for the following: Chicken for Linda! by Chiara Malta (Italy) and Sébastien Laudenbach (France), Slide by Bill Plympton (United States), Saleem by Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha (Jordan), The mermaid by Sepideh Farsi (Iran), They shot the piano player by Javier Marsical and Fernando Trueba (Spain) and Invelle by Simone Massi (Italy).

The festival Grand Prize, worth two thousand Euros, will be awarded by a junior jury composed of students from the Paul Valery high school in Meknes and theater students from the Théâtre des Chamates association.

FICAM 2024 will also offer a series of meetings and exceptional Master Classes: The cinema lesson by Theodore Ushev, The late Show by Bill Plympton, The city of Naples in the cinema of Alessandro Rak, Edmond and Lucy, the challenges of creation of an eco-responsible cartoon, The animated life of the sounds of Andrea Martignoni, Stories and morals, manufacturing secrets of a Moroccan animated series in the presence of the Studio Artcoustic team, From paper to the screen, the manufacturing secrets of PJ Masks, a successful animated series, in the presence of Christian De Vita, director.