Saturday, March 16, 2019

Analysis of the movie Seasons thirst or village without men.



 In Tangier,Habib Nasry speaheads the debate of the feature long film of Abdel hamid Al Zoughim.Habib, as a sociologist,was fascinated by this simple and intelligent movie, because according to him, the film gave very good picture of the simple people living in rural Morocco, besides,the movie reveals sexual obsessions of women living in a space where men are absent . The Moroccan dialog is really well peformed by actors namely Raouya.

Written by Sanaa Trari

Despite the current river that penetrates the deserted village and tells the thirst of its simple inhabitants, the humble mint ponds are irrigated, the water is insufficient to ensure the stability of its poor inhabitants, the village will thirst, thirst of another kind that can not be recognized in a conservative society ruled by traditional customs.
The men of the village will collectively leave for a four-year-long displacement. The reason is to work in French quarries and mines. This takes place after the independence of Morocco in the sixties of the last century, where the colonizer had left militarily but his ears were still draining the country and grinding the labor in its soil.

It is a dark period in the history of modern Morocco, where injustice was multifaceted, and one of these aspects remained silent about it; at least cinematic, the femininity of women falls into the taboos of which they are concerned. Scene in the film summarizes one of these tragedies when the former colonizer of their representative in the selection of the finest men of the village in terms of physical structure and bullying, while the exclusion of adolescents and the disabled, this is done without simply taking into account the serious social damage resulting from this deportation.
How can you imagine the village without its men, or in the sense of the right of two men, one of them is a shack helpless seat, and a teenager is insignificant life that beats? !!!
The director, Abdul Hamid Al-Zoughi, took his time to build his story; at the turning point with the departure of the hard men, he will leave us as observers to take the time to discover the hidden in conscience and thirsty souls, and leave us to observe female bodies, And sometimes wrestling with others that are burned by the bites of sexual desire as the dimension and deprivation of the erosion of resistance to the development of the events of the film.
The film was bold in appearance and bold in content. The sexual deprivation of women, especially those belonging to rural soil, was rarely addressed in the cinema, but the director was not daring to deal with it, as if he wanted to bake an ideal meal without sticking the dough to his hands. He drained all his tools to make the idea clear, and tried as much as possible to avoid exploiting the female body and the eloquent and aesthetically pleasing implications it could offer.
The film was based on the female element in a cohesive group tournament. It was the audience that gave the film the second women's role worthy of Latifa Azlef at the 20th National Film Festival in Tangier. Each actress played in the space allocated to her craft that proved the ability of young female actors to recite the character in depth and in a convincing manner, regardless of the nature of the role, and this applies to Fadwa student and Nehila Benomomo and Nadia Paradise ... Fatima Harandi ( Raouya)  was in the court where he donated, Sulaimani flowers in their usual area of ​​diagnosis.
Beautiful in the film despite the fact that the women's championship, he presented equivalent , the two individual men in the village will be a millstone or a hammer that touched the anvil, the film can not do without them. The rising actor Badreddine Ghattas was born in a role that combines simplicity and depth, his body language and facial expressions were consistent with his age. Mohamed Naiman raises his hat as he was creative in a role rarely mastered in Moroccan cinema. The movement - the swing between the rejection and acceptance of rape, which is exposed by a young babe exhaled lust.
It is one of the most beautiful scenes of the film with a dramatic condensation, which reduces all the pain of loss and longing, as the exhausted shoe of the absent husband master of the moment; pregnant and nostalgic for lust; and on the impact of his wife will practice the veil of secrecy secret to calm a bit of her desire frantic.
The camera of the photographer Jose Gérel took us to the atmosphere of a simple Moroccan village in a simple time, in its mud architecture, in the decoration and furniture fully harmonized with the public space, focusing on the wooden doors and closing on locks and the closure control reinforced the content of the story that wants to hide and cover the fire under the ashes. The tour of nature carried a captivating summer atmosphere where the hay was piled in the bayader, the mint filled the small basins, the picture did not depend on the loud colors, as if in turn contributing to the secrecy of the lusts that boil, predicting a long autumn will be lived by women.
One of the most confusing things in the film is the focus on three points. The first is easily recognizable in some scenes. If we close our eyes and listen to the dialogue, the suspicion is that the film revolves around a villager. The dialect does not always preserve its village accent. To the logic of the Bedouin thinking and expression rich in the legacy of the narrative and lyrical inexhaustible not exploited enough, as if the screenwriter forget that he writes about a purely rural environment on the one hand, on the other feel that he was lost between the sixties of the last century and the present time.
The second point is the first. Looking at the faces of the young villagers who spend their day farming, cleaning the clothes by the river or the like, working outside the houses under the hot sun, are faces that do not resemble the faces of the villagers as we know them - except for those who do not leave houses - The cost of makeup did not work on the faces to fit the nature of the rural population, whose features were sunburnt and sunk the wrinkles of labor exhaustion and misery prematurely.
The point is that the film lacks a soundtrack that is consistent with the tense nature of the subject. The carefully chosen music is able to raise the rhythm when the film intensifies or calms it down when you live, especially as rural Morocco is rich and local music will be added to the film.
The last-minute filmmaker was faithful to a desired balance, or a dreamer, of a death met by birth, but the pessimistic side was dominant, the birth here came

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Does Moroccan cinema evolve or falter?



Written by Mohammed El Khaiter ( Film critic )


       Is Moroccan film production actually developing? Does it respond to the expectations of the Moroccan public and its cultural and artistic needs? The official competition is limited to 15 Moroccan films and the great director Suhail Benberka is outside the official competition , writes  Mohammed ElKhaiter,journalist and film critic.

Can we judge that the Moroccan film is only an assemblage of  pictures over pictures? Is the Moroccan film a combination of connotations and content regardless of the structure of the image? Where do we see the creative component of the Moroccan film in form or content? Is the component of creativity separate from semantics and meanings in the Moroccan  context? Is there any argument for creativity in Moroccan cinema? Should the issues of Moroccan cinema be carried by a beautiful structure and style and in a beautiful spirit or not necessarily? Is there a development of Moroccan film over decades? Does the Moroccan cinema match the concerns and transformations of society? Is the Moroccan director convinced of what he is doing? Is the Moroccan product with a creative cinematic background or with a background of stores capturing opportunities?
These are some of the burning questions that critics, journalists and filmmakers have brought to the Tangier film festival ,already held on 1 of March to 9 , 2019.
The national film festival in Tangier is like a snowball, when a Moroccan film takes the form of a film that shakes the entity from the inside and draws critics, journalists and filmmakers around the film.
With the National Film Festival in Tangier ,edition 21, this prestigious film festival in the Arab world and in Africa is moving from the total screening of films produced annually to an organized selection within a national cinematic committee, keen to save on the effort and festive programming. Moroccan film, within the total of nearly thirty Moroccan films, which marks the transition of this major demonstration to the festival  tests, .
At least in the short film contest, it was not new. Moroccan filmmakers took up a selection process before the official competition at the National Film Festival for years. But the new day in the festival is the different cinematic exercise that leads to the improvement of the festival station. Of followers.
One of the most powerful moments of the national film festival in Tangier 21 is the premiere of the film "Sand and Fire" by Moroccan director Suhail Benberka, whose wide audience was not surprised by the quality of the work, Photography, actors' performance, cinematic language , "script" and other elements of the artwork.
The film was accompanied by the presence of the Minister of Culture and Communication and Mr. Wali of Tangier - Tetouan.
There are many questions about the reasons why Suhail did not enter the official competition.
On the other hand, the short and long films feature film moments filled with controversy over the quality of the Moroccan film over the past year. The question is: Does Moroccan film production actually develop? Does it respond to the expectations of the Moroccan public and its cultural and artistic needs? What is the possible relationship between the Moroccan filmmakers who are present at the festival and the young Moroccan filmmakers?
Through these public and private moments of criticism, the great cultural question remains with all Moroccans: Does Moroccan film production evolve during the year and during the decade? Does it respond to the expectations of the Moroccan public and its cultural and artistic needs?  Has the Moroccan director become capable of his cinematic instruments?
Critics, journalists and those interested went on to be programmed in a regular setting for the National Film Festival in Tangier 21, where a few Moroccan film directors were glamorous, while others emerged with a dull presence after the show of their movies, making some of them lounging in the discussion room.
Perhaps one of the most dramatic surprises of the national film festival in Tangier 21 is that of Moroccan filmmakers emerging from a young generation of filmmakers, who have raised the slogan of innovation in style and vision and to some degree agree to the initiative. His first feature film was in a different cinematic experience at the writing level, as well as content, music, editing, photography and characters. In contrast, a number of leading Moroccan filmmakers presented a film within the official competition category such as "The Three Mimes - A Missing Story" by Saad Chraibi  and the film "The Last Rebellion" by  Jilali Farhati without cinematic elements that guarantee artistic quality, although these are examples of the cinema of the pioneers of Morocco, but unfortunately they left the date and missed the expectations of their fans. Does Moroccan cinema evolve or falter?

Monday, March 11, 2019

The birth of the project "Moroccan Association of Screenwriters" at the Tangiers Film Festival



In line with the new orientation known in Morocco in supporting and moving the film act in its various artistic, logistical and human components, and because the screenwriter in Morocco is the most vulnerable element and knew physical and moral injustice and lack of official recognition ... A number of Moroccan screenwriters saw the establishment of a legal framework "The Moroccan Association of Screenwriters", as a contribution to raising the level of writing the Moroccan film screenplay and protecting its creators while securing their material and moral rights, in order to encourage them to bid and create better, as the main engine to raise the level of the Moroccan cinema and the consolidation of the element of competence as the main source of the tributaries of creativity in the cinema.
Thus, on the sidelines of the 20th session of the National Film Festival, organized in the city of Tangier from the 1st to the 9th of March 2019, a preparatory committee was formed for this purpose. It held a meeting in which it set a number of points, foremost of which are the objectives of this Assembly, its powers, structure, It will be sent to the other screenwriters for its review and elaboration on the day on which the general assembly will be held and whose date and place will be determined later.
Therefore, the other sisters and brothers are required to write the script "Film and Television" Contact or write the Coordinator of the Committee and its Rapporteur: Khalid Al-Khudary via email or Messenger, to get a copy of the draft Basic Law.
The committee included the writers of the script: Osman Ashqra, Abdul Ilah Hamdushi, Habib Al-Nasseri and Khalid Al-Khudari .. The following is the e-mail address of the Rapporteur of the Preparatory Committee and its coordinator:

khalid.elkhodari@gmail.com

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Munsters,Akcil and CCM .



 Akcil : The Moroccan Film Center feels that you are in an interrogation with the police and exposes the Moroccan diaspora, especially the Amazigh

Many filmmakers are eager to know more about your latest film Monster, can you tell them some?

First, I would like to thank you for your interest in the film.The story of the "Munsters" revolves around the consequences of abuse of power and its consequences, telling the story in a form of psychological suspense. It took a few years to write the script, delaying the release of the film to another years of lack of funding, until the company "Jan Prodiction" represented by the person Abdul Rahim Harbal challenge the production of the film with its own resources.
"Munsters" was chosen with 10 of the 650 films from 32 countries to take part in the Winter Film Festival in New York City. I am very excited to share the film with the Moroccan audience.

The film was recently selected to participate in an international festival in America. What does this mean for you and the team?


  Akcil :To present the film at an international festival, especially since the film Amazigh, is a matter of pride. It is also the best reward for the team for the efforts and sacrifices it made to complete the film. To me, this involvement is an incentive to work harder.

The film was self-financed and did not get post-production support. Do you think that the other works were more powerful or just a matter of luck?

 Akcil :This question is difficult to answer. First, I do not believe in luck in such cases. Second, I can not judge other films because I have not seen them. What I really believe is that time can put things in its natural place, the time will come when we'll see other films alongside "Munsters" then the viewer will be the referee.


The film was not selected to participate in the national film festival in Tangier, what is your reading of the committee's choices.


 Akcil : It has been selected from 650 films from 32 countries to participate in an international festival in New York The number of films produced in Morocco during the past year has reached 40 films for which Monsters has not chosen.
I think that the Moroccan Film Center has many people working with the pre-judgmental mentality to govern yourself. I will tell you my experience with the Cinematographic Center. For years, I had a screenplay for one of my films before the support committee at the Cinematographic Center, during which I was asked questions such as: "Why did not you name the film in Arabic?" Why did you choose to take the film with Amazigh?
I did not hear a single question about the output of the film, the colors, the lenses chosen for photography, narration, distribution, production .... I do not think I would have heard such strange questions if the film had been Arabic.

I went to CCM to discuss my film, but I felt like I was accused of something, as if I were being taken to a police station.I was not the only one to suffer from the exclusion of the film center, the film "A Mile Away by My Shoes" by Said Khallaf of Tangier. But when the film won prizes at a festival outside Morocco, the film was immedialely selected in Tangiers, awards. Let us not forget that CCM film tried to discourage Mr. Abdel Salam Kalai from becoming a director. Imagine what we would have lost if he had taken their advice. Moroccan cinema and television would have lost great works such as "Malak" and "Ain Al Haq"

For lack of support, CCM argues that the "Munsters"has not cost much money. Let me tell you that the amount spent on the film exceeded what was spent on films that received 400,000 dirhams of support. First: Our team was composed of professionals from Morocco, United States, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico City, Canada.Second: Most films in Morocco employ one person to perform montage, sound, music, color casting ...

For Münsters we brought together professionals in his specialty, music composer, sound collector, montage ... Mixage audio was done in a studio in Chicago with 5.1 technology. I think that the removal of the "Munsters" from the support was for reasons other than the argument of CCM.
The films selected for the Tangier Festival are often the same as those supported. In my opinion this is wrong. Not all subsidized films deserve to open the door to participate in the festival before others and leave the judgment to the public.

I thinkCCM does not help Moroccan cinema. His message is: We do not want the participation of Diaspora Moroccans in building Moroccan cinema, especially the Amazighs and those who do not come from the Francophone countries.

Based on these facts I am not qualified to support or participate in festivals, perhaps I should go to France or Rabat first and then bring out a film Baldraga to get their approval.

In addition, CCM has to reconsider its support, especially for Amazigh films, as it is now an official language and must be supported. It also supports Arabic-language films, or special support, such as Hassania, to enrich the film library.

Do not support the film and not choose to participate in the festival will prompt you to market the film outside Morocco

  Akcil :Yes of course, that was the first goal, even if we had the support and participated in the festival. Marketing the film abroad has been and remains our priority. I always try to make films that anyone in the world can see, not just rural and Moroccan scenes. The language of the film is not important, the real language is not in the dialogue; it is in the narrative through the picture. As Hitchcock says: "If the film is good, we can remove the sound and keep the viewer a clear idea of ​​what is going on in the screen

Tuesday, March 05, 2019

Latif lahlou president of The National Chamber of Film producers ( CNPF)



                                                                              Latif lahlou



On Saturday March 2nd, 2019, at 10.30, at the Maison de la Presse in Tangier, the Ordinary General Assembly of the National Chamber of Film Producers (CNPF) was held.
This general assembly was held as it was planned, in accordance with the law of the CNPF and the regulations in force, and discussed all the items on its agenda.
After having heard the moral report, presented by the president Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi, who detailed the actions of the Executive Bureau during the last two years, and the financial report presented by the Treasurer Mohamed-Abdelkrim Derkaoui, the present or represented members debated them then approved unanimously.
After giving discharge to the current Executive Board, Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi resigned and the members present opened a debate to establish a program of action for the next two years. This debate culminated in the adoption of a program consisting mainly of the following points, which the new elected office must ensure:
1 - The necessity of the recasting of the text of the Advance on Revenue, with the progressive increase of its budget and the reorganization of its commission in two colleges, one for the first and second film and another reserved for the confirmed directors .
2 - The need to adopt a participative management of the CCM, based on consultation with professional bodies through joint committees, in accordance with the regulations in force and the requirements of the Kingdom Constitution.

3 - Regulation of the granting of professional identity cards, as well as the reactivation of the Employment Programs Commission which sets the agenda of the CCM in consultation with professional bodies .
The new team of the 5 members  are as follows :

- Mr Latif Lahlou: President
- Mr Driss Chouika : Secrétaire Général
- Mr Salah Jabali : Secrétaire Générai-adjoint
- Mr Mohamed Abdelkrim Derkaoui : Trésorier
- Mme Siham El Alaoui : Assessor, in charge of communication.