In Apocalypse Now, as Willard and his crew make their way up the Nung River, the captain learns that Kurtz, his main target, previously staged a successful, but unofficial, operation called Archangel. Instead of being nailed “to the floorboards” for insubordination, Kurtz was promoted to full colonel “after the press got hold of it.” To these events, Willard concludes: “The bullshit piled up so fast in Vietnam, you needed wings to stay above it.” I’ve reached a similar conclusion about the awards ceremony for the 15th Marrakech International Film Festival, which ended on December 12, where Francis Ford Coppola served as jury president for the festival’s main competition. In short, when it came time to award the jury prize, Coppola announced a “split decision”: The prize was going to “cinema itself” and, thus, every film in competition.

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