Casablanca- Director Nabil Ayouch’s Les Chevaux De Dieu (Horses of God), which premiered at Cannes 2012 and was Morocco’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards this year.
Evaluating the film, Variety said “the pic delves into a shantytown atmosphere of machismo, wounded pride and powerlessness, which collectively act as a petri dish for fanaticism. By spending considerable time on milieu and the friends as kids, Ayouch sets his film apart, delineating personalities that avoid the cookie-cutter repetition seen elsewhere. “Horses” will trot confidently into Euro art houses”.
The “Horse of God” was awarded the best Francophone film award (outside France) at the Prix Lumières 2014 Film Awards held in Paris last January.
The film had already won 19 awards in several international film festivals, among them the Seattle Festival director and best director audience award last June, and the Golden Spike at Spain’s Valladolid Fest.