'A Mile with My Shoes' won the audience admiration in the Carthage Festival Film

The Moroccan film ‘A Mile with My Shoes’ gained the admiration of the seventh art lovers when it was screened in the Carthage Festival Film. The film competed for the first work award which was clear from the interaction and praise from the attendees. The film director, Said Khallaf, which his film is nominated to represent Morocco on the Oscar of 2017 expressed his happiness for screening his first film in such a great festival and with the audience admiration. Khallaf noted the artistic components of the film which is not limited to the dramatic story, but it is extended to the plot through the overlapping of time, the...

Read More

‘The Rif Lover’ by Narjiss Nejjar

The film is based on Noufissa Sbaï’s novel with the same name in French. Narjiss Nejjar continues her mother aim and moves it from fiction to cinema contributing alongside her mother in the liberation movement of women from the cultural restriction and boundaries. The film tells the story of a young and beautiful woman Aya (Nadia Kounda) who refused to give up her dreams against family orders and social norms. Aya longs to live a passionate love, yet she is confronted by a restricting reality and betrayed by her own kin. Aya lives with her mother (Nadia Niazi) and two brothers Ahed (Fahd Benchemsi) and Hafid (Lotfi Omar) while...

Read More

‘Days of glory’ by Rachid Bouchareb

‘Days of glory’ is a war movie about the North-Africans who are recruited to liberate France from the Germen’s occupation. The name of the film is translated ironically in English-speaking world as ‘Days of Glory’ while in reality it is ‘Indigenes’ which means natives. The film highlights the unfair treatment to those African soldiers and how they were used, exploited and segregated. The film starts with the recruitment of the Arab soldiers especially in Morocco and Algeria 1943 though the both countries are being colonized by France. The African troops contributed in the invasion of Italy and the liberation of mainland France. Said...

Read More

‘Zero’ by Nour EddineLakhmari

 ‘Zero’ is a distinguished film which is written and directed by NourEddineLakhmari. The film tackles serious issues daringly- prostitution, alcohol, and corruption. It has also received more than 30 several awards inside or outside the country. ‘Zero’ tells the story of a cop, Amine Bartal, who is nicknamed Zero (YounesBouab), and the conflicts that he encounters within his context. AmineBartal is corrupted cop that uses a young prostitute (Mimi) to swindle her clients their money. Bartal’s superior is another corrupt man who protects a big luxury prostitution network that exploits young girls. Zero is harassed and belittled by...

Read More

‘Casanegra’ by Nour Eddine Lakhmari

There are several movies that have been shot in Casablanca, and each movie tackles a certain facet of life in the metropolitan city. Regardless of that, today’s movie concerns itself only with the dark side in the city where far away from the city lights resides the wretched of the earth. Thus, Casablanca is only white for those who enjoy a decent life, but it is ‘casanegra’ for Karim (Anas Elbaz) and Adil ( Omar Lotfi). Karim and Adil are close friends in their twenties, jobless, and welling to change their situation with a magical stick. Karim is trying to keep bone and flesh of his family including his retired ill father. Though,...

Read More

‘Whatever Lola Wants’ by Nabil Ayouch

'Whatever Lola Wants' is a trans-cultural movie which is shot in America, Morocco, and Egypt. The movie follows a dream of a girl across continents to learn belly dancing. The name of the film has its roots in the entertainment dancing world. It is a popular song inspired by the ‘Spanish dancer’ LolaMontez’s saying. Lola (Laura Ramsey) is an American dancer who gets inspired by oriental dancing through her Egyptian gay friend and coworker Yussef (Achmed Akkabi). Lola works a part time job in a post delivery and in a restaurant as a entertainer and waitress. She meets Zak (Assaad Bouab) whom she delivers litters every day and who...

Read More

‘they are the dogs’ by HichamLasri

Here we continue our journey with another film ‘The are The dogs’ written and produced by the Moroccan director and scriptwriter HichmaLasri. The film is shot by a follow camera, and the motion and shakiness of the camera lend the film a taste of documentary. The film is about a TV crew who are looking for an interesting story in the light of the turmoil that the country witnesses in the eve of the Arab Spring. Among protestors, they find an amnesiac man who has just been released from 30 years prison after he was arrested in the uprising events on 1981, and now he is looking for his family.The playful crew manage to help the man...

Read More

‘Much loved’ by Nabil Ayouch

'Much Loved' by Nabil Ayouch This is the third film that I have worked on by Nabil Ayouch after ‘Ali Zaoua’ and ‘Horses of God’. Ayouch has a special approach in dealing with social issues in each of his movies. He mainly thinks out of the box when it comes to dealing with the story as if you are watching real events through the frames of a TV box. In today’s film, the story arouses too much criticism and contempt within the general audience who consider the work to be merely a pornographic film.  Apart from that, Nabil Ayouch has another point of view and he succeeds to convey it to the audience and the chaos that his...

Read More

‘Classroom 8’ by Jamal Belmejdoub

‘Classroom 8’ is one of the films I like a lot when I watch back in 2005. The film is about naughty boys in school and whom of us that does not experience this phase, but the story here is different a little bit. The film revolves around two naughty and aggressive students Mjid (Rafik Boubker) and Miloud (Aziz Hattab) and their newly appointed young teacher Laila (Fatima khair).  Mjid and Miloud are example of all students who go to the class not for study but just to have fun at the expense of their teachers and class-mates. Once Laila starts the classes Mjid and Milod keeps bothering and interrupting her and making fun of...

Read More

‘Ali Zaoua The Prince of The Street’ By Nabil Ayouch

One of the characteristics that distinguishes Ayouch’s movies is realism. In all his movies, Nabil does not seek to fanaticize reality, rather his topics stems from the suffering and problems that Moroccan society undergo. In this film ‘Ali Zaoua’, Ayouch dives deep in street children’s life and dreams. This film is more a documentary than a film in which it projects the life of street children who represent themselves in the movie. Kwita (Mounim Kbab), Omar (Mustapha Hansali), Boubker (Hicham Moussoune), and Ali (Abdlhak Zhayra) are street children that Ayouch gives them a chance to depict their miserable life and represent all...

Read More

'Horses of God' by Nabill Ayouch

A commemoration of excruciating events The film ‘Horses of God’ is a true story based on Mahi binebine’s novel ‘les étoile de Sidi Moumen’. The story is about the bombing of Casablanca in 2003 by 12 suicide bombers. Nabil tracks the life of three of suicide bombers for more than ten years. Through the movies, the focus is more on the three characters and the environment they live in rather than the ideology or fanaticism. Yachine (Abdelhakim rachid) and his aggressive older brother Hamid (Abdelilah Rachid) struggle from their early age to help their mother and the family to survive. Then Hamid is caught in prison after he throws...

Read More

'Death for Sale' by Faouzi Bensaidi

Death for sale (Mort à Vendre) is a movie that inspires its characters from under the surface reality of Morocco. The movie is shot in Tetouan and it revolves around three inseparable friends.  Malik, Allal, and Soufiane are young friends that hold their hands to face the unbearable situation they are living. They decide to change their miserable condit...

Read More

'A Thousand Months' by Faouzi Bensaidi

'A Thousand Months' is produced by Faouzi Bensaidi. The movie is about ,Mehdi, a seven years old child whom his father is in prison, he lives with his mother in his grandfather’s house. Mehdi’s father is a teacher who is imprisoned under the charge of provoking students into protests, but Mehdi is told by his mother that his father is working in France. The grandfather is doing his best to keep the basic needs of the family. In that, he suffers too much living on the fact that his land being confiscated by the same country he fought for in the war of liberation. In school, Mehdi is privileged by carrying the teacher’s chair from and to his...

Read More

‘Le Grand Voyage’ (The Great Journey) by Ismael Ferroukhi: Religion VsSecularism

‘Le Grand Voyage’ is written and directed by Ismael Ferroukhi. It stirs up the issue of ‘Beur Generatin’ who are the children of immigrant and their clash with ancestral culture. The story is about an immigrant father (Mohamed Majd) who forces his secular younger son to drive him from Marseille to Mecca. The son, Reda (Nicolas Cazale), cannot refuse his father’s decision; therefore, he gives up himself to his dominant father. During the beginning of the journey there is an intense communication between the father and the son that almost end up with argument. In their way, they encounter some incidents that only create more turmoil in their...

Read More

'Wechma' (traces) by Hamid Benani

‘Wechma’-‘Trace’ by Hamid Benani is the first film to be shot in Meknes, Morocco, or as I have found in an article that the movie traces the history of Moroccan cinema. The story is about an orphan child ‘Massoud’ who is adopted by a well-to-family from the village. The story doesn’t end here though Massoud is lucky to find a home which will leave a trace in his life. The movie is worth watching despite its poor quality because it was shot at a low personal budget and collaboration of the directors who founded ‘Segma 3’ at a time when there was no Moroccan cinema Centre. ‘Wechma’ is a movie that sheds light on several issue through its...

Read More