Francis Ford Coppola’s jury awards all other competition entries a jury prize.

The 15th Marrakech International Film Festival (Dec 04-12) saw jury president Francis Ford Coppola and his fellow jurors award all films in competition the event’s jury prize, apart from Lebanese-Qatari feature Very Big Shot, which won the Golden Star Festival Grand Prize.

Coppola announced the joint prize in a speech during the closing ceremony: “This year’s jury prize is for cinema itself,” said the director, adding that the decision was made by the “majority vote of the jury”.

In Jean Bou Chaaya’s Very Big Shot a small-time Lebanese drug-dealer slyly manipulates public opinion with the help of a filmmaker.

The best directing prize went to Gabriel Mascaro for his film Neon Bull.

Gunnar Jonsson snapped up the best actor prize for his performance in Virgin Mountain.

The best actress prize went to Galatea Bellugi for her performance in Guillaume Senez’s Keeper.

Jury prize winners included:

Visar Morina’s Babai,

Stephen Dunn’s Cop Car,

Jon Watt’s Closet Monster,

Jonas Cuaron’s Desierto,

Michael Noer’s Key House Mirror,

Keiko Tsuruoka’s Lingering Memories,

Sina Ataeian Dena’s Paradise,

Jawad Rhalib’s Rebellious Girl,

Park Suk-Young’s Steel Flower,

Raam Reddy’s Thithi,

Zhassulan Poshanov’s Toll Bar,

Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain,

Gabriel Mascaro’s Neon Bull,

Guillaume Senez’s Keeper and

Jonás Cuarón’s Desierto.

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