Erige Sehiri’s ‘Promised Sky’ Wins Top Prize at Marrakech International Film Festival

Promised Sky by Erige Sehiri took the top prize Étoile d’or at the 22nd edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival.

The film follows three women – a pastor, a student, and an exiled mother, whose delicate cohabitation shifts when they take in little four-year-old Kenza, rescued from a shipwreck.

Chaired by Parasite director Bong Joon Ho, the jury awarded its prize shared between Jihan K’s My Father and Qaddafi and Vladlena Sandu’s Memory.

The Best Directing Prize was awarded to Oscar Hudson for Straight Circle.

Debora Lobe Naney won the award for Best Performance by an Actress for her performance in Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky, while the Best Performance by an Actor award went to Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù for his work in Akinola Davies Jr.’s My Father’s Shadow. The jury also praised the precision of actors Elliot Tittensor and Luke Tittensor in Oscar Hudson’s Straight Circle, and awarded both a special mention.

Alongside the South Korean director, the jury was composed of Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz; Moroccan director Hakim Belabbes; French director Julia Ducournau; Iranian actor and director Payman Maadi; US actor Jenna Ortega; Canadian-Korean director Celine Song; and British-Argentinian actor Anya Taylor-Joy.

Also at the festival, Jodie Foster, received an Étoile d’or for lifetime achievement, and gave a speech about her relationship with cinema, saying “I am still guided by the same love: telling stories, bringing characters to life, asking questions about our connections and our vulnerabilities, and exploring our humanity. Cinema offers us a few hours where we can dream, live, and belong to a deeply humanistic community. It’s the place where we hold hands, side by side, in the dark.”

In addition to Bong Joon Ho, and Jodie Foster, the festival also featured Guillermo del Toro, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer, Jafar Panahi, Tahar Rahim, and Yousra in conversations.