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In the presence of Morocco's crown prince, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, and an international jury headed up by Milos Forman and including John Hurt, Shekar Kapur and Claude Miller, the seventh Marrakech International Film Festival signed off by giving its Golden Star for Best Film to Estonian director Veiko Ounpuu's tower-block tapestry Autumn Ball.
The Jury Prize was a tie between Alexey Mizgirev's The Hard-Hearted and Brillante Ma. Mendosa's Slingshot, while Best Actor went to Finnish star Tommi Korpela for Man's Job and Best Actress to Yu Yun-mi for With A Girl Of Black Soil.
Martin Scorsese continued his love affair with the festival by showing up to give a masterclass and officially opening the city's new, government-financed cinema school, while Leonardo DiCaprio, Abel Ferrara, Japanese writer-director Shinji Aoyama and Moroccan filmmaker Mustapha Derkaoui were all on hand for tributes from the festival, which says it is the only uncensored film event in the Arab world.
This year's festival also honoured 100 years of Egyptian cinema, with over 40 acclaimed Egyptian actors, directors and producers turning up for a celebratory ceremony and lavish bash at Marrakech's Dar Soukkar restaurant.
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