The 2nd Edition of the International Festival for Documentaries was closed on Saturday November 14th, 2009 in the presence of the President of the Urban District of Agadir and his bureau.

The ACEA, organizer of FIDA DOC was enchanted with the presence of a faithful audience more and more numerous, a very curious and inquiring audience that was enriched by debates with film directors and other professionals who were present.

FIDA DOC welcomed over 80 guests half of them foreigners and the second half composed of Moroccan professionals: journalists, directors and producers who shared a big window on the world offered by all the documentaries coming from all parts of the world.

FIDA DOC confirms its ambition to create a South-North exchange platform, with a documentary market. As a proof, the acquisition of the Channel “Documentaire Planète” of a Moroccan film “On the thread” of Wahid Al Moutanna and other ongoing projects.

The round table organized in partnership with Natureparif, the French agency for the protection of nature and biodiversity was a real success: institutions, associations, cooperatives and curious or specialist public, were present to debate throughout the day about biodiversity stakes and more specifically the Argan tree protection.
The date is henceforth set to renew this partnership during the 3rd Edition to assess the results of actions that have been carried out based on agreements between institutions, mainly the Regional Council Souss Massa Drâa and local associations.

Debates that have followed our thematic programs dedicated to environment and sustainable development issues, as well as to child rights have gathered hundreds of audience members. Among them, students, members and/or managers of the concerned associations and administration representatives who came to meet and question directors, but also to have mutual debates.

The more significant discussions were those that followed the projections of Butter and Butter’s money and the Damned of the Sea. The first film allowed some local parties involved in the fair trade to face the experience of the Shea butter in Burkina with the development of similar branches for the Argan tree fruits. The projection of the second film has allowed the representatives of the ocean fishing syndicate to express themselves concerning the difficult situation of their colleagues, denounced through the film of Jawad Rhalib as well as other professionals still working or retired to express their testimonies about the changes that the Moroccan fishing has witnessed during the last thirty years.

A public most of it young came to attend the projections of a Blooming Business and Mirage of El Dorado, two competing films reflecting our round table thematic about biodiversity stakes. An attentive and critical public was free to question “Western” film directors about their motivation and approach during the shooting of the dramatic consequences in the developing countries and of the activity of multinational companies originating from the same region as them.

Saturday which was devoted to the twentieth anniversary of the International Convention of Child Rights gathered a wide audience in order to debate about realities often hidden from the public space such as pedophilia, tackled by the young Moroccan director Salah Eddine Arrissane. Many speakers have insisted on the necessity to use much more audiovisual means as a tool of awareness rising within schools, but also to call on the authorities concerned with such social issues.

School sessions for the 8-12 years old pupils have enchanted some hundreds of them coming from public and private schools. The Tunisian director Anis Lassoued and Aammi Driss have succeeded in making them enjoy their time, answered all their perceptive as well as naïve questions offering them a new vision for the world, a new perception of cinema and particularly of images they see each day.

In parallel, over 20 students from the city and the region have benefited from workshops dedicated to documentary writing initiation.

Finally, the Itinerant Digital Cinema has, once again, gathered in open-air evenings, in different districts in Agadir and outside the city, few thousands of audience members happy to discover Buster Keaton and to see various documentaries about Morocco directed by Moroccans residing abroad.

The FIDA DOC family becomes more and more bigger in Morocco as well as abroad and Agadir gets henceforth ready for the 3rd Edition to be held from November 9th to 13th, 2010.

Waiting for you!

Partners :
The Ministry of Communication, the Moroccan Cinematographic Center, the Wilaya of Souss Massa Drâa, the Regional Council of Souss Massa Drâa, the Urban District of Agadir, the Regional Council of Tourism, Afriquia, the Regional Council of Ile de France and Natureparif Agency, the Jan Vrijman Fund, the Embassy of France, the Embassy of Belgium, Deposits and Management Fund (CDG), and the European Commission.