The feature film ‘Alienation’, directed by Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Hmili, won the top prize at the 31st edition of the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival during the closing ceremony on Saturday 10 October 2026. The jury awarded a special mention to the documentary ‘Those Who Remain Alive’, which addresses the suffering of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
‘Alienation’ tells the story of steelworkers’ struggle
‘Alienation’ was released in 2025 as a co-production between Tunisia, Luxembourg, France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The film focuses on workers’ lives and the challenges they face through the story of Mohammed, an employee at one of Tunisia’s largest steel plants who loses his friend in an industrial accident.
After recovering from the accident, Mohammed discovers that a shard of metal remains lodged in his head. He decides to return to the plant in search of the truth and out of a desire for revenge. As the shard begins to rust, the worker enters an internal and external struggle in which his personal crises intersect with the problems facing his community. The special mention went to ‘Those Who Remain Alive’, directed by Swiss filmmaker Nicolas Wadimoff.
‘Those Who Remain Alive’ documents testimonies from Gaza survivors
The film documents the experiences of nine Palestinians who managed to leave the Gaza Strip, drawing on their testimonies about loss and displacement caused by Israel’s genocidal war on the territory. Rather than using archival footage showing Israeli bombardment and destruction, the documentary relies on the survivors’ personal memories to reconstruct an image of the place.
The film presents these experiences through an approach combining oral testimony and drawing, making the participants’ accounts central to the work. In August 2026, Switzerland selected the film to represent it in the competition for nominations for the 2027 Academy Awards, in the Best International Feature Film category. The film was released in 2025 and is an international co-production that has previously been screened at several Arab and international film festivals.
Ten films representing nine countries took part in the feature-film competition in the current edition: Turkey, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, France, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco. The 31st edition of the festival opened in the Moroccan city of Tetouan on 3 October 2026 and concluded on 10 October.
Film screenings, seminars and workshops addressed the issues and transformations shaping cinema in the Mediterranean region.
