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Poor cinema in Morocco.It is targetted by everyone and eveywhere.First,and sadly speaking;majority of cinema-theatres are closed because of the mediocrity of films introduced to cinephiles and cinema lovers, plus the everlasting and continuous existence of hacking either in Derb Ghallef ;Casablanca or in Essamarine in Rabat.
Another factor that is targeting these days Moroccan cinema is some political ideologists who called themselves “protectors of Islam”.They are also taking this burden into their shoulders and condemn publicly some movies starting with Laila Marrakchi's film “Marock” Noureddine Lakhmari ‘s “ Casanegra “ and finally Aziz Essalmi’s “Hijab Al Hob”.
Noureddine Lakhmari's has recently received financial offers from some hackers to put his movie into Derb Ghallef’s souk,but he refused insisting that his film should be seen at cinema-theatres in Morocco. It is obvious that watching a movie in a cinema-theatre is much better enjoyable than watching it on DVD even if the operation happens comfortably at your home.
These are not new things happening to Moroccan cinema, but let’s fresh our memories and go back to some Maghreb countries especially Algeria where also GIA ‘s fidels in the nineties banned cultural cinema and decisively closed some cinematic clubs in Algiers.No doubt it becomes ironic in these countries that censorship has been active after the independence of Morocco and Algeria and now the state itself is encouraging to promote cinema by giving money to cinematic investors and sometimes unfortunately to some people who have nothing to do with movies .
Around Rabat-Salé ,the future cosmopolitan capital of Morocco, if you take your car and circulate to see some cinemas among popular suburbs and also some clean streets, the majority of cinema-theatres have become closed ,ruined,abandoned to homeless, criminels and drug dealers. This bad image of cinema theatres reveals to me that they are similar to buildings of Gaza,abandoned and isolated like a frozen iceberg somewhere in the north of our beloved earth.
By Allal El Alaoui
