Morocco’s culture of co-existence between Muslims and Jews will be celebrated on Opening Night of the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival’s 20th Anniversary Edition on 30 March. The evening is dedicated to Mr. André Azoulay, who serves as Counsellor to His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco. US government officials, foreign diplomats, and leaders within the cultural, academic, philanthropic, and business communities will join the American Sephardi Federation (ASF) in honoring Mr. Azoulay.
Mr. Azoulay is receiving ASF’s Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his remarkable life’s work exemplifying the Moroccan tradition of tolerance through the arts, especially with the founding of the Essouira-Mogador Foundation for Arts, Culture, and Heritage and Essouira’s Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques, as well as his support of Association Mimouna, a movement of young Moroccan Muslims who preserve and promote the Moroccan Jewish heritage as an essential part of the Moroccan identity.
Mr. Azoulay’s fête, co-presented with Association Mimouna, will include a reception of kosher Moroccan delicacies and live musical performances, including by Israeli-Moroccan singer Neta Elkayam, who, with her partner Amit Cohen, creates original Moroccan Judeo-Arabic compositions.
The Pomegranate Award is designed by renowned Baghdad-born artist and ASF Board member Oded Halahmy, the proprietor of the Pomegranate Gallery in Soho and Jaffa.
Mr. André Azoulay
Press Release of Opening Night