Nador International Film and Shared Memory Festival: ‘Memory of Peace’

The Centre for Shared Memory for Democracy and Peace is organising the 14th edition of the International Film and Shared Memory Festival in the city of Nador from 15 to 20 November 2025, under the slogan ‘Memory of Peace’, with the participation of prominent filmmakers, thinkers, researchers, diplomats and human rights defenders from Morocco and different parts of the world. 

This edition is being held in a complex international context, marked by crises and conflicts that reinforce the need to consider transitional justice as an essential basis for reconciliation and confidence building. In this sense, the festival offers a space for collective reflection that links the seventh art, human rights culture and peace, in a creative fusion of image, memory and responsibility. 

Under the slogan ‘Loyalty to Loyalty,’ this edition of the festival is dedicated to individuals who have left their mark on culture, thought, and human rights through their exemplary commitment, reaffirming that recognition is a fundamental human value. 

The opening ceremony will be marked by the presentation of the eighth edition of the International ‘Memory for Democracy and Peace’ Award to Dr. Omar Azziman, advisor to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in recognition of his outstanding academic and legal career and his fundamental role in Morocco's experience of transitional justice, considered a pioneering model at the international level. 

A special tribute will also be paid to Her Highness Sheikha Dr Souad Al Sabah, in recognition of her prolific intellectual and creative career and her valuable contributions in the fields of literature, human rights and the defence of the values of justice, freedom, dignity and equality. To mark the occasion, an international colloquium entitled ‘Loyalty to Loyalty’ will be held, with the participation of researchers from the Arab world, Spain and Latin America. 

In the field of cinema, the festival will present a selection of documentaries that address human memory as a horizon of peace and reconciliation, including: 

• I Will Remember You – Morocco – Dir.: Mohamed Rida Gueznai 
• Cubaraouiss – Cuba/Morocco – Dir.: Aziz Khwadir and Ever Miranda 
• Autour du Feu – Switzerland – Dir.: Laura Cazador and Amanda Cortes 
• Jaouk – Morocco – Dir.: Hassan Benjelloun 
• Guerrillero – Spain – Dir.: Joan Gamero 
• Silent Trees – Poland – Dir.: Agnieszka Zwiefka 
• Il Pianto degli Eroi – Italy – Dir.: Francesca Lolli and Bruno Bigoni 

The programme also includes twenty short and feature-length fiction films from different countries, which address contemporary human issues and highlight the academic, cultural, cinematographic, political and human rights dimensions, representing the diversity of human perspectives and experiences. 

The festival juries are made up of prominent figures from the academic, cultural, cinematographic, political and human rights fields, representing the diversity of human perspectives and experiences. 

They are divided into three main juries: 

• Feature Film Jury: Leila Kilani (Morocco – Jury President), Marcelo Novais Téles (Brazil), Hassan Abdelhamid (Iraq), Sergio Benvenuto Solás (Cuba), Carlos Taillefer (Spain), Aksel Fauzi (Morocco), Antonio Urrata (Italy). 
• Documentary Jury: Najat Belkacem (France – Jury President), Amer Etamimi (Kuwait), Sultan El Khatib (Iraq), Mohamed Hmoudane (France/Morocco), Jean Dost (Syria), Luis Pedron (United States). 
• Short film jury: Nadia Lahmaidi (Morocco – Jury President), Lorca Sbeity (Lebanon), María Iglesias (Spain), Nahed Salah (Egypt), Jaime Noguera (Spain), Susan Abu Hazan (Lebanon). 

The festival will pay tribute to three figures from the world of cinema: 

• Assad Tagmaoui, Moroccan actor of international renown; 
• Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, iconic director of Moroccan cinema; 
• Mariam Essalmi, actress from Nador, symbol of local female talent. 

And in tribute to the memory of those who contributed to building a pluralistic Morocco through art, culture and the promotion of human rights and freedoms, the Nador International Film Festival Common Memory will establish, starting with this edition, an annual award dedicated to figures who have left us but who have left a deep mark on the cultural and humanistic life of the country. 

In this context, a special tribute will be paid to the late Nour-Eddine Saïl, in recognition of his exemplary career and his valuable contribution to the development of Moroccan cinema. 

This edition will also honour prominent local figures from the legal, academic and human rights fields, whose commitment has contributed to enriching the intellectual and civic landscape of Morocco. 

The National Office of the Centre for Shared Memory for Democracy and Peace and the Management of the Nador International Film Festival for Shared Memory express their sincere gratitude to all the local authorities, as well as to the partners and collaborators, both new and old, who have accompanied this fourteenth edition with commitment and generosity, bringing to life this year's motto: ‘Loyalty to loyalty’. 

The full list of institutions, partners and sponsors of this edition will be announced shortly, in recognition of their valuable contribution to the promotion of culture, cinema and the values of peace, justice and coexistence.