Marrakech Film Festival bestows Palestinian film 'Happy Holidays' with top award

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) —

The Marrakech International Film Festival bestowed its top prize Friday on “Happy Holidays,” a Palestinian drama set in Israel whose screenplay won an award at the Venice Film Festival in September.

The film, directed by Scandar Copti, follows Israeli and Palestinian characters facing familial and societal pressures in present-day Haifa and stars both professional and non-professional actors. It is the first Palestinian film to win Marrakech’s Etoile D’Or award.

Screenwriter Mona Copti in an acceptance speech said the film team’s joy at winning was tempered by war in the Middle East and she denounced what she called the dehumanization of Palestinians