Friday, February 21, 2020

The craft of Ahmed Al-Bouanani




By Foad Zouirek

Some Moroccan directors played an important role in defining the features of "Moroccan cinema" after independence, especially the generation of pioneers who laid the foundations for the Moroccan film and built its features with its modest capabilities. Among them is the comprehensive creator, director, scriptwriter, model, writer, painter, poet, and actor Ahmed Al-Bouanani .

 Ahmed Al-Bouanani contributed in one way or another to producing a unique creative experience with holistic implications, which led to the creation of a multi-individual, who is able to give in many different fields (writing, packaging, directing, acting ...) at a time when the film scene was And creative in general, he suffers from a severe shortage of specialized Moroccan technicians and creators, and they were compensated by foreigners, and here I mean the post-colonial period, the period of construction and construction, and the likes of Ahmed Bouanani at that time compensated for this deficiency, in addition to their effective contribution to direct and indirect framing for technicians and Moroccan cadres, and  had certainly a positive impact on the creative and artistic arena.

Ahmed Al-Bouanani was known for his distinguished feature film, Al-Sarab, which reflects the personality of its owner, a movie that prompts you to discover the worlds of its director, the apparent and the inner, of it, a comprehensive, inclusive, and diverse film between the poetics of the place, the symbolism of time, the durability of dialogue, the aesthetics of the image, the dynamism of the story and the power of language .. A movie that depends on the intelligence of the recipient and his ability to decipher his symbols and formulate a cultural artistic formulation in the context of its relationship with the director's vision and his implicit speech ...

It was known that Ahmed Al-Bouanyani was out of the limelight throughout his artistic and cultural career, his self-denial and his constant pursuit of isolation and isolation, but his film `` the mirage '' exposes him, leaving researchers and those interested in gaining his personality, studying his psyche, identifying himself and his feelings through him.
The strong style of the film in packaging and installation, the process and spacetime of its events and dynamism, the poetic flow of the dialogue language, and the power of diagnosis ... factors that played a major role in the classification and recording of the film, one of the most important films in the history of Moroccan cinema.

The name Ahmed Al-Bouanyani will always remain a symbol of free creative integration, this true, sincere integration stemming from the depths of his human personality, and away from the heinous exploitation of his personal or material benefit, which may harm the noble goals of his pregnancy and his generation in a sensitive stage in which Morocco was living. We do not deny that there are such examples, especially from his contemporaries, but Ahmed Al-Bouanani remains the most prominent and influential example, especially among all of his ten friends and colleagues ... everyone is unanimous in his distinguished presence culturally, creatively and morally.

Ahmed El-Bouanyani first appeared in life in 1938 in Casablanca, at a time when Morocco was still under the yoke of colonialism, and perhaps this helped him build his humanly rebellious and culturally rebellious personality and diversified it with this amazing mix of art and creativity, something that provided him with multi-dimensional angles founded to see cinematic and artistic, and gave his personality a sincere aesthetic that helped him control his career and life, until the last breath of his life in 2011.

Like most Moroccan directors, Ahmed Al Bouânani, went to France to study cinema, and after graduation he worked at the Moroccan Film Center, and by virtue of his specialization in the field of packaging, this field had the largest share in most of the works that he worked on, he participated in several other films as either a director, actor or scriptwriter ... He also contributed to the accomplishment of a number of the most important Moroccan cinematographic films such as (“Washma” by Hamid Bennani, “Eh Ya Zaman” by Muhammad Al-Zayani, “The Treasure Preserved” by Muhammad Asfour, “From Al-Wad Lahyah” by Muhammad Abazi, 'Al-Kanfoudi' by Nabil El Helou ...).

Ahmed Al-Bouanaani individually directed a single feature length film, “The Mirage”, but his cinematic repertoire contains a good collection of short films and documentaries such as (“The Poet’s March” 1966, “Memory 14” 1971, “Children”). Sidi Ahmed Umousa (1977), The Four Sources (1978), The Birth of a Nation, 1981, Casablanca, The Outcome and Prospects (1982 ... and others).

The literary side of Ahmed Al-Bouanani did not remain locked in the inclusion of his office, or between the pages of his personal papers, but rather it was intended for actual participation in the journal `` Anfas '' that was among its editing members, or through direct interaction with readers through writing and publishing in a group of national publications .

Ahmed Al-Bouanyani, Diwanan Sha’aryan, “Windows Shutters” and “Futokram”, and one novel “The Hospital”, as he has an important book that has not been published yet on the history of cinema in Morocco.

In sum, Ahmed Al-Bouanani remains a tall cinematic and cultural stature of Morocco, who broke into all artistic and literary fields ... with his personal effort and excelled in it, and left an important creative impact after a busy march of giving, despite the policy of marginalization and exclusion that he was exposed to, especially in its early start.