One of the most telling moments of the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival came with the awarding of the Best Directing Prize to British filmmaker Oscar Hudson for his debut feature Straight Circle. More than a technical accolade, the prize stands as a recognition of a cinematic vision that values depth over spectacle and meaning over immediacy.
A war film without combat
Straight Circle is not a war film in the conventional sense. Instead, it uses war as a silent backdrop to explore the human condition. Two soldiers from opposing sides find themselves isolated in a desert outpost, where the notion of “enemy” gradually dissolves, giving way to a confrontation with the self rather than with the other.
Hudson’s direction resists noise and excess. Tension is built through pacing, framing, and silence — silence not as absence, but as a narrative force in its own right.
Direction as discipline, not display
What sets Oscar Hudson apart is his understanding of directing as an ethical and intellectual discipline, not a stylistic performance. The camera never seeks attention for its own sake; it observes, questions, and sometimes withdraws, allowing the audience to actively construct meaning.
This deliberate minimalism places Straight Circle within a lineage of thoughtful, idea-driven cinema — films that trust the viewer and refuse to offer easy conclusions. It is precisely this clarity of vision that the Marrakech jury chose to honor.
Marrakech as a platform for emerging voices
By awarding a major prize to a first-time feature, the Marrakech International Film Festival reaffirms its role as a space for discovering bold new cinematic voices, beyond market-driven formulas. It is a reminder that innovation in cinema often emerges from risk, not repetition.
A prize that resonates beyond one film
The Best Directing Prize awarded to Oscar Hudson is not merely a personal achievement. It is a statement in favor of a cinema that dares to slow down, to think, and to unsettle. A cinema that asks a deceptively simple question:
When does the enemy become a reflection of ourselves?
In an era saturated with conflicts and simplified narratives, Straight Circle proves that cinema still has the power to challenge certainty — and to redraw the lines we thought were straight.
