Tunisian-born Chebbi, whose film focuses on the investigation into the murder of a janitor at a construction site in Carthage, on the outskirts of his hometown, did not attend the ceremony in Burkina Faso, presided over by military leader Ibrahim Traoré.
Chebbi beat Burkina Faso rival Apolline Traore, who won the silver award, with the film "Sira", while the bronze went to Kenyan Angela Wamai ("Shimoni").
The biennial pan-African film festival Fespaco aims to reward fiction or documentary feature films that portray African realities.
