Hamid Basket won the "Best Director Award" for his feature-film "The Silence of the Butterflies", a thriller dealing with the lives of women struggling to regain a lost humanism.

At the official awards ceremony, held at the Sofia Balkan Hotel, "Le silence des papillons" also clinched the Festival's 3rd Grand Prix.

Speaking on this occasion, Morocco's Ambassador to Bulgaria, Zakia Midaoui, who received the trophy on behalf of Mr. Basket, expressed her gratitude to the organizers of this edition of the Festival and to the members of the jury for this award.

"This moment is full of symbolism, as we are all concerned by the scourge of violence against women and children. This is why, on behalf of filmmaker Hamid Basket, I dedicate this trophy to all women and children in the world, in general, and to abused women and children, in particular," the diplomat said.

Ms. Midaoui said she was honored by the award, describing it as a "token of friendship from the Bulgarian people to the Moroccan people."

Nearly 3,000 films representing 125 countries were in competition at the 2023 edition of the Golden Femi Film Festival in all categories (documentaries, feature films, shorts, animation, series, student films, films for people with special needs, and so on). Screenings of the films presented at the festival will continue until the end of the year.

Furthermore, as part of the festival's promotion of just causes, including ecology and sustainable development, Mrs. El Midaoui and a host of Bulgarian figures set up a "Forest of Glory" in Sofia's Studentski Park.

This initiative, held in partnership with the Sofia Municipality and the Chairman of the Sofia City Council, Georgi Georgiev, saw the planting of a hundred trees and various types of vegetation and bush in the park.

The Golden Femi Film Festival is an international platform, attracting movies with topical social themes from all over the world. The event focuses on female filmmakers and the fight against domestic violence against women and children.