Samedi soir, the 26th Festival international du cinéma africain de Khouribga closed with its clearest verdict: Le Grand Prix « Ousmane Sembene » went to La voix de Hind Rajab, the Tunisian feature by Kaouther Ben Hania. The award put Ben Hania’s film at the center of the 2026 palmarès as the curtain fell in Khouribga, Morocco.
That result matters today because the festival’s winners were announced at the end of a week of screenings and debates, when the closing-night list became the event everyone was waiting to read. The FICAK 2026 was organized under the theme « Entre streaming et rêve: le dilemme africain », and the final tally answered the basic question on many minds: which film would emerge with the festival’s top prize?
The answer was La voix de Hind Rajab, but the full list quickly widened the frame. The jury prize « Nourredine Saïl » went to the Egyptian film The Settlement by Mohamed Rashad. The directing award « Idrissa Ouédraogo » honored Moroccan filmmaker Ali Benjelloun for Goundafa, the Cursed Song, while the screenplay prize « Samir Farid » went to La mémoire du manguier by Nicolas Sawolo Cissé. Michelle Lemuya Ikeny won the prize for best female role for Nawi dear future me, and Younes Bouab took best male role for L’Héritier des secrets.
That spread is what gives the palmarès its edge and also its complication. A Tunisian film took the headline prize, yet the closing-night honors were scattered across several countries and categories, from Tunisia and Egypt to Morocco, Senegal, Kenya and Mauritania. The festival also highlighted the short-film competition, where the Grand Prix « Najib Ayed » went to the Moroccan film Another End by Tarik Rasmi and the jury prize « Paulin Soumanou Vieyra » was awarded to Anima by Mauritanian filmmaker Boubecrine Ibrahim El Mamy. In other words, there was a winner, but no single national sweep.
The closing also included a posthumous tribute to Cameroonian director Bassek Ba Kobhio, described as the founder of Écrans Noirs. What remains unsaid is just as important: the closing announcement did not explain why La voix de Hind Rajab was chosen over the rest. For now, the festival has named its top film, and the jury has left the reasons for that choice off the stage.
