The 22nd Pan-African Cinema and Television Festival (Fespaco) held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, closed its doors on March 5.

The dozen awards won by the Maghreb countries include Algeria’s seven prizes, namely for “Voyage à Alger”, a feature movie by Abdelkrim Bahlou. The movie won several distinctions, including for Best Scenario and Best Actress (to comedian Samia Meziane).

The movie picked up the UNICEF Prize and the Catholic Association for Communication Award.

The musical comedy “Essaha” (the Square) by Dahmane Ouzid won Fespaco’s Best Poster Prize and the United Nations Prize for Combating Poverty. Algeria scooped up another award, this time the “Gold Fowl” rewarding a short by young director Abdelnour Zahzah and titled “Garagouz”. Esthetically perfect, the short movie has already won several other distinctions, including First Prize at the latest Arab Movie Festival held in Oran in December 2010.