Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky won the Etoile d’Or of the 22nd edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival (November 26-December 6).
The Tunisian drama, which premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard earlier this year, also won the prize for best performance by an actress for Debora Lobe Naney.
The film follows three Ivorian women trying to make a fresh start for themselves as sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia. It is Sehiri’s third feature following the documentary The Railway Men in 2018 and drama Under The Fig Trees in 2021.
The best actor prize was won by Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù for UK-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow, about a father trying to get to know his two young boys over one long day in Lagos in 1994.
The jury was chaired by director Bong Joon Ho and included members Karim Ainouz, Jenna Ortega, Celine Song, Anya Taylor-Joy, Hakim Belabbes, Julia Ducournau and Payman Maadi.
They awarded the jury prize to Jihan K for My Father And Qaddafi and Vladlena Sandu for Memory.
This year’s festival was attended by 47,000 spectators with special guests including Guillermo del Toro, Academy CEO Bill Kramer, Jafar Panahi and Jodie Foster, who accepted the Etoile d’Or for lifetime achievement.
Marrakech winners 2025
Étoile d’or - Promised Sky, dir. Erige Sehiri
Jury prize - My Father And Qaddafi, dir. Jihan K and Memory, dir. Vladlena Sandu
Best directing - Straight Circle, dir. Oscar Hudson
Best performance by an actress - Debora Lobe Naney in Promised Sky
Best performance by an actor - Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in My Father’s Shadow, dir. Akinola Davies Jr.
Acting special mention - Elliott Tittensor and Luke Tittensor in Straight Circle
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