Under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the Arts, the Annaba Mediterranean Film Festival is making a comeback after a 4-year absence.
This 4th edition, which will take place from November 3rd to 9th, 2023, at the regional theater of Annaba "Azzedine Medjoubi", is inscribed under the slogan "New Vision".
Journalist and film critic, Mohamed Allal will be in charge of curating the event, alongside actor Hassan Kachach as artistic director.

For this great comeback,after an interruption due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the new curators aspire to bring a new outlook and vision to the festival, a vision that can meet the challenges of cinema on a global scale. "We've decided to make this new edition an opportunity to give the Annaba Festival a truly international dimension, notably by selecting the best productions, increasing the value of the Grand Prix and opening up a debate with national and international producers", says curator Mohamed Allal.

Italy will be the guest of honor for this 2023 edition. On this occasion, the Festival reveals the participation of great names of the Italian cinema, film screenings and various activities related to the country of the boot. The opening evening will feature a screening of Nanni Moretti's film "Vers un avenir radieux".

The screening committee received no fewer than 2000 films. Among them; productions from the Mediterranean basin, a total of 75 films (released between 2022 and 2023) were selected for the official selection: feature-length, short and documentary films, as well as the "Rive Sud" and "Best Algerian Short" competitions.

The President of the Jury for the Official Feature Film Competition will be Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director and screenwriter. He has won several awards at the Cannes Film Festival and other international festivals.
Among the selected films:
"The Island of forgivenes" (Tunisia) by Ridha Behi; "Carmen" (Malta) by Valerie Bulhagiar; "Bâtiment 5" (France) by Ladj Ly; "Sarura. The future is an unknown place" (Italy) by Nicola Zambelli; "Kaveri" (Turkey) by Firat Ozeler; "The builders of the Alhambra" (Spain) by Isabel Fernandez; "The desert rocker" (Algeria) by Sara Nacer…

The films in the contest will compete for the Grand Prix "La Gazelle d'or", worth $15,000.
The Annaba Mediterranean Film Festival will also feature the presence of leading local and international filmmakers, out-of-competition screenings, conferences, master classes, concerts and training workshops.
The program will include a number of features, such as the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Algeria's Oscar win, tributes, the "Annaba Film Industry" competition...