The award honors the first feature film by the Moroccan director, who has won several other national and international prizes, including the Jury Prize in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at the Cannes Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the Tangiers National Film Festival, as well as the Creation Prize from the Gan Foundation for Cinema.

In a statement to MAP, Festival Director Nolwenn Delisle said that the award-winning feature is “truly a breakthrough”, especially in its Italian version, as the name is already key to understanding the film.

On the topic of Moroccan cinema, Delisle commented that “Morocco always offers us films that dazzles and moves us, and we never have enough”.

Speaking on the occasion, Yassine Dadi, Deputy Head of Mission at the Moroccan Embassy in Rome, who received the prize, welcomed this award recognizing both the film’s director and team, as well as Moroccan cinema in general.

Kamal Lazraq, behind several short films, adapted his working method with non-professional actors to direct his first feature film “Hounds”.

This 15th edition of the FrancoFilm Festival in Rome (March 7-14), organized by the French Institute Saint-Louis Center, in collaboration with the Group of French-speaking Ambassadors, presented 14 films and documentaries, including 12 representing, in addition to Morocco, Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada-Quebec, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Luxembourg, Romania, Rwanda, Switzerland and Tunisia.