TUNIS: "Microphone", about young hip hop and graffiti artists in Egypt’s second city Alexandria, scooped the top award Sunday of Tunisia’s Carthage Film Festival showcasing African and Arab cinema.
Directed by Egyptian Ahmad Abdalla, the film impressed with its audacity and youth, announced the jury president, Haitian director Raoul Peck.
"The Golden Tanit is awarded to this film for its boldness, its youth, the reach of its music, the richness of its characters in a society which refuses to grant young musicians the place that they claim," he said.
The Silver Tanit went to "Voyage a Alger" by Algerian director Abdelkarim Bahloul while Moroccan Daoud Aoulad-Syad won the bronze for "La Mosquee".
The Carthage Film Festival, created in 1966, is held every two years for films with a director of African or Arab origin. Twenty-four long and short films from 11 African and Arab countries were in competition this edition.
The Tanit award is named after the chief goddess worshipped at ancient Carthage.