Discoveries from Morocco World Cinema

An exploration of Morocco’s 3,000-year-old rug-making tradition.

Filmmaker Abdo is betrothed to Amal surrounded by three women: his mother, his younger sister Hasna, and the maid Zahra, and during the period of setting the date of Amal's marriage to Abdo, the latter meets a Canadian filmmaker, Diane, and they live together a romantic story. Meanwhile, the mother has a traffic accident and her son Abdo is forced to donate With his blood to save her, he discovers that he is infected with the AIDS virus.

Casablanca, 1961: Edoardo embarks on a covert and illegal mission to rescue a wrecked ship on the shores of the Atlantic. It is the promise of an adventure and his relation to the Great South that will bring him the redemption he desires.

A young man drives a truck loaded with dates from southern Morocco into Tangiers.

After the death of her husband Amghar, killed by the settlers, Tamghart resists the maneuvers of the traitor Hammou who quietly negotiates, despite the villagers, the elimination of the argan tree to pass a road. But Rachid’s bitter struggle, back in the village after long years of study abroad, puts an end to Hammou’s evil schemes.

Nora, who has been attached to her work and her career, decides to sacrifice everything so that she can raise her daughter, Hind one year old, and take care of her house, because her husband Salim earns a good living. Since they had Hind, the couple decides to reduce their quarrels and shouting matches so as not to create bad energy in the house and around their daughter. The violence decreases in the house, but the traps and dirty tricks are still there to entertain. Nora and Salim can't live without bothering each other.

Hamid Kanfoudi, an orchestra conductor, wins the lottery. Contrary to his beliefs and expectations, he sees no improvement in his life.

A musical troupe (Ahwach) in southern Morocco are invited to celebrate a wedding in the desert, they get lost on the way...

Hamza and Zineb travel to a remote area in the Atlas mountains in Morocco to research for parts they’re supposed to play in an upcoming rendition of the legend of Isli and Tisselt – a tale of two lovers whose tears are believed to have created the two lakes that bear their name.

A team of filmmakers is having difficulty choosing a subject to shoot. After lengthy discussion, they finally decide on the story of Aïcha, a beautiful cabaret singer.

Lhadj Benmoussa, a rich jeweler, is married to several wives and appear to be a good manager of the three concubines, except when Houda, his third wife, who is young and gracious, is repudiated for the third time.

Ali Essafi visited Bouanani three years before the latter’s death. The filmmaker, poet and novelist who also made drawings was leading a reclusive life in a remote village with his wife Naïma and many cats, living in the midst of huge piles of books and manuscripts.

Story of two women in a small fishing village, a Spanish enclave on Moroccan territory. Touria is married to the school teacher, who suspects her of infidelity and confines her to the house. Touria befriends Moira and together they learn how to dance the flamenco.

Two young thieves find a sealed jewelry box that becomes the envy of rival gangs.

10-year-old Mica, lives with his mother and sick father in a slums near Meknes. He starts apprenticing for his father’s friend, a handyman in a tennis club in Casablanca. After going through humiliation and even being physically abused, Mica starts to understand his situation, and does everything in his power to change it.

An old journalist, Omar, remembers the 70s and Salim a young 35-year-old journalist who had dared to investigate a corrupt senior state official. Omar knows it's a fight lost in advance but Salim refuses to let go. He resists because his duty as a journalist and his contempt for the untouchables who believe themselves above the law incite him to take all risks. But one day, the newspapers announce the death of Salim, cowardly murdered by a burglar. In short, a simple fact.

Dawiya wages a fierce battle in the courts against her ex-husband to retain custody of her daughter, while fighting to protect the dreams of the women in her cooperative against an unjust law that puts them under guardianship. The story is documented by nine commandments for all guardians.

The film sheds light on the issue of cancer in young children and the subsequent suffering for them and for the doctors supervising the condition of this category of patients and their parents.

Made in the sunset years of Paul Bowles’ life, the film sees the eccentric author and composer reminisce on how he ended up in Morocco.

A Moroccan film tells a dramatic social story about a middle-class family suffering from the father's stinginess, who does not leave his old coat, which brought suspicion to his wife and three sons about the mystery of this coat, which will be illustrated at the end. His interest in raising money without caring for his children has divided the family.

A radio host often addresses issues of violence against women on her show. Her life takes a decisive turn when she receives a mysterious call from a listener.

On 11 June 1986, one day after Morocco wrote football world cup history by scoring a surprising victory over Portugal, government official Daoud is ordered to secure a bridge outside Casablanca that sits between two hostile communities over an empty highway. Here, he is to await the expected but by no means certain visit of King Hassan II. Encounters with government supporters and the families of political prisoners; the mysterious appearance of a foreign woman and a Berber, as well as the story of a football crazy boy all prove to be a bit much for Daoud. Ever since the bloody ‘bread riots’ five years earlier, he has felt paralysed. But the euphoria and the hope he encounters here help to lift his mood. The Moroccan team’s success unleashes a new self-confidence and lust for life that transcends the surreal shadow of the monarchy.

Set in the mid-1950s when Tangier was still an international zone, El Chergui presents the city on the eve of its independence, as Aïcha resorts to magical practices to try to prevent her husband from taking a second wife. Around her, a society of women creates its own form of active resistance even as the larger independence movement grows around it. Through his unique use of montage, Smihi creates arresting images that present a society torn by the contradictions of colonialism, religion, patriarchy, and resistance. (Block Cinema)

Every afternoon, couples meet on the corniche of the town of Larache, the ‘Balcon Atlantico’.

Following an unpunished crime, a village of fishermen in northern Morocco is rising up around Simo against the local drug boss.

The story of a boy wandering the streets of Casablanca in all its contradictions, crimes and chaotic nature, walking with a mirror to observe the vibrant spirit of this city, and between its streets, narrow corners, vast areas and unique landmarks, the boy observes with his mirror the secrets of this city, which blends modernity with ancient history.

During the oppressive reign of Moroccan King Hassan II in the 70s and 80s (Years of Lead), many dissidents went missing. After the throning of a new king, a truth commission was formed in the 2000's. Families of the missing speak.

"The drums were everywhere. There were round ones, flat ones, pot-bellied ones... There were tiny ones and huge ones like those played by the musicians who came to turn beneath our windows in Casablanca..." Using the omnipresent percussion during Morocco's feast of Achoura, and Izza Genini's personal memories, this film examines the place of music in a person's relationship to his social and cultural origins. Profane or sacred music – what is the secret by which music binds a person to the world and sometimes to himself?

Moulay Mahdi, a 30-year-old wealthy and narcissistic young man. He finds himself on the street overnight without money or identity. He tries to understand what has happened to him but ends up in numerous controversial and comical situations that culminate in a shocking discovery.

In a tiny Moroccan village, a young father plans his illegal crossing into Spain. He assures his wife that he will telephone her three days after his departure, to confirm his safe arrival in Spain. However, the call never comes. |

Since Mina is sufficiently mentally impaired that her judgement is not all that it might be, in this Moroccan drama her actions are not questioned. She doesn't know what's happening when a taxi driver has sex with her, and she's equally clueless about how she accidentally killed him. However, she does recognize that having a dead body around is a liability, and she buries the taxi driver under a pile of sea salt. When it turns out that she's pregnant, her aged fisherman father and loving stepmother put her in hiding and the stepmother pretends to be the pregnant one, so that when the child is born she can claim it as her own.

This 1 minute 30 second film presents a tightly executed fight choreography centered around a single object: a bottle of Coke. The piece uses precise movement, rhythm, and physical tension to build a sharp confrontation between two characters. The bottle becomes the trigger for escalating conflict, allowing the film to explore intensity, control, and combat technique within a very compact runtime.

In the streets of Casablanca, a photographer and a model spend a day together, capturing moments and confronting their struggles. They wander through the city, drifting between memories and the reality of the lives they lead.

Mehdi decides to get Married. The problem is he's already a married man and a father of two. He wants to take a second spouse, but he doesn't know how to break the news to his wife, Hayat.

In Morocco, the art and craft of beautification is essentially in the hands of a woman known in the north of the country as a "ziyanna" (beautician) and everywhere else as a "neggaffa." A central figure in the lives of Moroccan women, the "neggaffa" accompanies all beauty rituals. She is an accomplished artist, a creator of living, ephemeral tableaux. Hajja Khadifa, mistress of the "neggaffates" of Casablanca, and her aunt Fanida share some of their knowledge with us.

Following the creative process behind choreographer Bouziane Bouteldja's show TELLES QUELLES / TELS QUELS, Othmane Saadouni has created candid and moving portraits of dancers in their everyday lives in Casablanca and Meknes, and in the professional world they are gradually entering.

Fyzal Boulifa's Cannes winning and Bafta-nominated short is an allegory of emancipation inspired by his mother's experience growing up in Morocco. Produced by Gavin Humphries the film also won the Fujifilm Prize and was selected for Sundance.

Malak, a teen girl, discovers she's pregnant. Rejected by the baby's dad, she faces a world that rejects her for being a single mum.

When a progressive woman from Casablanca challenges the status quo, female villagers—emboldened to demand more equality—start a cooking strike.

It all started in 1999. Two young cultural agitators launched "L'boulevard", a musical scene that was supposed to bring together a few underground groups. Against all odds, this fringe event became a groundswell. Little by little, this musical movement spreads to all artistic expressions. Street-art, comics, cinema, fashion, the "Nayda" wave is breaking all over Morocco.

During his 5 years of detention, Mehdi has questioned his life, and is considering the future. The future: Canada, where he wants to purify himself to be reborn again. Fate wanted him to meet Driss, a young marginal. Everything separates the 2 men. However, they have one thing in common: loneliness. A great friendship will be born between the 2 men, who will reveal their life, their anxieties and their dreams.

In Meknes, at the music conservatory, master Hadj Hoceine Toulali evokes some rules governing malhoune , a sung dialect word, imbued by the intimate links it maintains with the social and artisanal life of the city.

Naima is raising her son Ahmed on her own. When the state decides to rehouse them, Ahmed has to change schools. Alas, only Ahmed's father is permitted to sign the required paperwork – but he disappeared years ago.

A both empathic and poetic drama set in the Moroccan countryside. Family, poverty, work and pride are the most important motivations of M’Barek, a poor farmer who fights to pay off his debts so that he can keep his land.

After her mother's death, a little girl calms her sadness and anxiety with the traces of her mother's perfume on her pillow, while the father revives his desires on his wife's perfumed dress. After spraying the last drop of the perfume, the quest for a similar scent begins with the hope of finding relief and ending their pain.

Zeft is the story of a village, of a changing society torn between the background of traditional beliefs and diffuse aspirations for modernity.

Malika is annoyed, first by the fact she has to drive a broken-down truck to deliver two coffins to the families of the respective deceased and, secondly, by the idiocy of her companion Hassan, who is supposed to be in charge of paperwork. It is only after they have arrived at the second house that Hassan admits he got the coffins confused and each family has the wrong body. Along with their idle intern, they have to sort out which matters more: the satisfaction of the living or the sanctity of the dead.

A man one day discovers a clone that looks like him. Not satisfied with being a creature that no one wants to have in his paws, the clone steals his entire life from the human by living it in his place...

The 90-minute film follows the story of three young men from Casablanca who seek quick wealth by fabricating fake scandals on social media to manipulate the stock market. Guided by a social media influencer and one of the internet's most notorious scammers, their plan initially brings success, until it all unravels when the cybercrime unit begins to close in on them.

A troubled and despairing girl grapples with the painful aftermath of her cousin Murad's suicide, struggling to comprehend the reasons behind his tragic decision. Her journey to understanding becomes even more complicated as she realizes she had never expressed her feelings of love for him

Tayeb a shy young screenwriter, neglected by his family and the majority of his friends, revolts one day against marginalization by threatening his father and his entire class with a revolver, he consumes all his bullets....

The events of the film revolve around Halim and Mounir who accidentally come across a magic notebook. One night, unaware of the powers of this notebook, Halim, on a whim and after being rejected by the physiognomists of a big city club, expresses his anger by writing a wish on the notebook "And if all men disappeared from the earth". The wish is granted and the whole world is devoid of men except for Halim and Mounir. Our two protagonists did not know that they were going to experience the worst moments of their lives, all of which are interspersed with comical and offbeat situations.

Adrien Brody travels through the landscapes and streets of Morocco, reflecting on fate, chance, and the unseen connections that shape our lives. As his journey unfolds alongside Monos' Aluminum Collection, seemingly ordinary encounters reveal the mysterious threads that bind people, places, and destiny together.

It’s summer in Casablanca, Morocco. A young theater group translates Shakespeare's " A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Darija, the Moroccan dialect, and takes the floor of the streets to stage it and ask people around about it, and about love, and language: how do Moroccans say I love you? A lively portrait of Casablanca the unloved, carried by an inspired Arab youth, full of hope and desire for art, happiness and freedom.

The film was inspired by the life of football player Larbi Benbarek.