2025 Marrakech Intl. Film Fest: Promised Sky Wins L’Étoile d’Or + All the Winners!

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After acknowledging the work of Debora Lobe Naney, Jury president Bong Joon-ho awarded Marrakech’s top award to Erige Sehiri‘s Promised Sky. The Under the Fig Trees filmmaker had returned to Cannes earlier this year and competed in the Un Certain Regard section with this sophomore feature. Also from the same section in Cannes, My Father’s Shadow landed another Best Actor award for Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (he had recently won at the Gotham Awards). Alongside the South Korean director were 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. Here are the award winners by video (and as a reminder the competition of thirteen films:

Étoile d’or (Grand Prize): Promised Sky (Promis le Ciel) by Erige Sehiri (France, Tunisia, Qatar).

Jury Prize: Memory by Vladlena Sandu (France, Netherlands)

Jury Prize: My Father and Qaddafi by Jihan K. (US, Libya).

Best Directing: Oscar Hudson for Straight Circle (UK).

Best Performance by an Actress: Debora Lobe Naney in Promised Sky.

Best Performance by an Actor: Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in My Father’s Shadow.

Best Actor Special Mention: Elliot Tittensor and Luke Tittensor for Straight Circle.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). He is a Golden Globes Voter, member of the ICS (International Cinephile Society), FIPRESCI and AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma).

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