Discoveries from Morocco World Cinema

REMEMBERING IS NOT THAT EASY

In a small village in Goundafa, Morocco's High Atlas region, Said, Brahim, and Omar play music, dreaming of success and fame, while Fadma and the village women work the land with songs. The arrival of a new conservative imam gradually sows trouble and divides the community. His influence pushes some to deny their Amazigh identity, while others choose to rebel.

In a remote village in Morocco, Najib, 14 years old, is convinced that there are blue stones in the desert, whose vision has haunted him for years. Taken for a madman by his friends, he also faces the incomprehension of his family. Only the old sheikh believes in his story. One day, the council meets to decide on his case.

Batoul, a 28-year-old doctor, discovers love. Raised in a conservative environment where there was no question of dating a man before marriage, she met Hamza, and let herself go and transgressed all the principles she had always claimed. This whole story would end well if the wearing of the headscarf did not oppose them.

Casablanca, Lwiyen racks up petty schemes week after week. He owes money to Omar, a corrupt cop who uses quick and brutal methods. Assad, his childhood friend, is a nihilistic drunk who wants to see his native Sahara again.

Siham and Hafida are two chikha performers who sing traditional Moroccan Aita, a style of music which is a historical symbol of resistance against French colonisation. Several generations apart, they are also bitter rivals. Bennani stages this melodrama with a mischievous touch, in the style of reality TV.

Salah is a young delinquent who finds himself forced by a band of criminals who kidnapped his mother to carry out a dangerous transaction and transport a shipment of drugs from Marrakech to Tangier.

"Al Ikhwan" is a social comedy that tells the story of 3 friends (Zreka, Charo, and Abdelssadek), from a slum in Casablanca, who consider themselves brothers. Each of them has their story, their concerns, their problems, but they all share the same thing: failure in their lives marked by poverty, unemployment and marginalization... By seeking to create a buzz at through a video shot by the 3 young people, they were polarized and manipulated because of their naivety and carelessness and thus found themselves pursued by a search warrant against them throughout the national territory. .

In the early 1960s, after Morocco’s independence from France, many of the country’s Jews clandestinely left for Palestine. The Jews of the little town of Bejjad plot their departure with the help of their rabbi. Once he learns of the Jews’ plans, Mustapha, the bar-owner, panics; if all the non-Muslims leave, the Law will make him close the bar. How will he avoid such a disaster? He’ll have to hold back one Jew!

"Lotfi", a concierge of an apartment torn apart by the commitments of the unusual residents, with the neighborhood problems, their mood swings and endless demands.

Casablanca, vibrant and diverse, always ahead of its time, is the star of this exceptional show bringing together leading speakers and contributors to tell the story, experience the present, and build the future of Metropolitan Casablanca.

Dawn Of The Moroccan Fitness is an inspiring documentary by Abdelillah Habbat Idrissi. Through engaging interview formats, Idrissi imparts valuable lessons to Moroccan youth, showcasing that perseverance and finding the right path are timeless pursuits. A heartfelt thank you is extended to the individuals who shared their testimonies in the documentary. Their presence adds depth and authenticity to the narrative, creating a powerful connection with the audience. Additionally, gratitude is expressed to all those who contributed directly to the realization of this documentary. Their efforts and support played a crucial role in bringing "Dawn Of The Moroccan Fitness" to light, making it a meaningful and impactful exploration of life's journey.

The film highlights the suffering of couples when they do not have children, whether because the wife is barren or because of the husband is sterile.

A Moroccan film deals with the story of Abdelhak the employee who suffers from great psychological pressure as a result of his family problems with his wife and mother-in-law on the one hand and his mother on the other hand, in addition to his work problems.

An unusual night of a taxi driver.

Feast, Pilgrimage or Souk, the Moussem is the most popular and the most regular Moroccan event. The one of Moulay Abdallah is the most renowned for its Fantasia. It gathers every year around one thousand horses and their magnificent horsemen. Through successive waves the troops unfurl up to the official platforms, shooting all together the honour "baroud". Toufik Naomi, 22 years old, one of the more impassionate and gifted riders, will win once again that coveted victory.

Houcine is a 64-year-old rag and bone amongst hundreds of them in Casablanca and whose valuable work is almost invisible. The decision of the local authorities to abolish the carts drawn by animals threatens to wipe their livelihood in the name of the modernization of Casablanca which wants to be a "Smart City". The film follows Houcine's daily routine despite his multiple health concerns.

Moulay Yacoub starts a physical and poetic journey of self-knowledge across Morocco.

Jalaldine doesn’t accept the death of his wife. Then he decides to isolate himself until he finds the light within him. 20 years later, he is a sufi master and lives with his disciples.

The film-essay Nur Al Yanub/Mediodia introduces the letter sent by a fictional character who explores cultural connections between South Spain and Morocco through patterns of different kinds. It departs from the notion of "mediodía", coined by Rodolfo Gil-Benumeya. In his book "Nor Orient, neither Occident. The Universe seen from Albaycín" he proposes a epistemology of the midday, which comes from the South and the Levant, connecting the different shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and beyond, towards the South. The film questions some of the ideas of Benumeya, proposing a friction with other thinkers, while presenting the continuity of different material productions and their relation with the rhythm of the landscape the character travels though.

Five women from the great city of CASABLANCA, a source of economic, social, and civilizational progress. There are five divorced women from different social strata, and are professionally active in various fields. These women try to rebuild their lives, in an unequal society, dominated by prejudices against divorced women, and ignorance of the rules of law governing the status of women.

This exclusive documentary follows the journey of some of the worlds leading Muslim thinkers in a gathering that took place at the heart of an ancient Islamic city It was Habib Umar's first trip to the Maghreb and the film captures his travels and responses as he journeys through a land brimming with spirituality, knowledge and vast history. From the serene courtyards of the University of Qarawiyyin to busling souk streets, from walled city of Fez to the mountainous sanctuary of Moulay Idris, the film shares the spiritual secrets of the places and their stories. The beauty of the great city of Fez, founded by descendants of the Noble Prophet (May Allah swt shower blessings upon him), is shared by a visitor who is himself a direct descendant of that great household. The result is a moving meeting of two traditions that form the very core of great Islamic narrative.

Samira is an attractive, young Moroccan woman who is happily married to a banker. Their lives are turned upside down with the appointment of a new director in the company where Samira works who begins to harass her. This is where she finds herself at a dead end she decides to proceed in another direction and puts into action an ingenious plan to obtain the proof she needs.

A tragicomic story of several characters caught in a historic event, the cancellation of the sheep Aid in 1996: Lofti the amnesic, Mounir who is rejected by the family of the woman he wans to marry, a child who can't understand this cancellation and a person who needs help to commit suicide.

A digital poem made by strangers who travel the surface of the world to new continents.

This isn’t a film. It’s a leaked ritual. Somewhere between analog prayer and digital disease, a collection of gestures tried to become human again. They failed. Children orbit the fence like insects around an electric hymn. A figure holds a violin but never plays — his silence is louder than the sound. The man in the branches hasn’t fallen in years. The killer appears, or doesn’t — but you’ll feel him beneath the cuts, mouthing things you’ll wish you didn’t understand. There are bodies, sometimes clothed in flesh, sometimes not. There is scripture, mangled and reversed — not to mock it, but to unlock it. The voice speaks, but only when you stop listening. This is the place where lost footage remembers you. Where noise prays back. CHOKE ECHO was compiled under duress by 0xHamza in 2025 using material never meant to be rearranged. Watch it if you must — but it will keep watching after you close the tab.

A film that describes how someone who is haunted by the idea of death learns to suffer.

The film portrays the confrontation between two female models and gives voice to women by thrusting them, without mercy, onto the most heavily mined battlefield of all… social consciousness. Will it manage to find a way out?

After a car crash causes a young composer to lose his memory, his journey to regain it causes him to reevaluate his life and reflect on his past mistakes. However, his life soon gets complicated when he discovers that he has forgotten how to create music.

Saida, a young executive in a big company, meets Hamid, a 35-year-old computer scientist. They decide to get married, convinced both to have made the right choice. After a few years of happiness and stability, their marriage begins to rock.

Bushra, a beautiful woman, devotes her life to her career as a nurse, saves the life of Inspector Karim, who, together with his aides, sought to dismantle a terrorist cell, before he fell in love with her and married her.

In a small commercial harbour in the south of France, two Moroccan sailors are watching over ferries that were abandoned by ship-owners. Young Syrians make a stopover to load their cattle, African traders prepare a convoy of second-hand vehicles. Men, machines, and animals transit through this space open onto the sea.

Thirtysomething Yousra, a former African Karate champion, now works as an Aikido teacher. She's always wanted to start a family but has yet to realize it yet and decides to recourse to a matrimonial agency. Her first date recommended by the agency turns tragic when the man is murdered before her eyes and she finds herself in the newspaper headlines accused of his murder.

A young teacher named abdelrrafi lives with his mother, moves to another house suddenly knows the owner of the new house is " sheikha"

A devoted mother struggles to raise her teenage son living with severe autism, confronting daily challenges while navigating the fragile balance between love, patience, and the desire for her child to find his place in the world.

The film tells the story of story of a Brahim Boumalfi, a retiree who, after working for fifty years at the same company, has not received a pension in over two years

Shocked by French président Nicolas Sarkozy’s claim that the African man has no history, filmmaker Cheikh N’diaye sets out to prove his royal heritage – tracing his grandfather’s path from Mauritania to Senegal, homeland of his warrior ancestors.

Portrait of youths in an abandoned amusement park in Casablanca, in meaningful tableaus inspired by social media. "I am here, I exist."

Naïma decides to run away from home and works as a dancer in a cabaret. Very beautiful, she is courted by important personalities who die under unexplained circumstances. Moncef, a young police commissioner, tirelessly leads the investigation to uncover the truth, probably connected to the monster.

Sophia, a spirited young photographer from Tangier, has her world upended when she learns a shocking truth: her French mother, believed deceased, is alive and residing in France. Driven by a yearning for identity, Sophia embarks on a perilous journey to the heart of Europe, determined to unravel the family secrets that have been shrouded in darkness.

Maine and her family are accompanying her father’s coffin to the small Moroccan village where he is to be buried. Tomorrow, the men will take the body to the cemetery while the women, in accordance with tradition, wait at home. That is not something Maine can accept, however. She is determined to go with her father to his final resting place.

In an ironic tone, it is the story of Lotfi, an unemployed young man who never succeeds in demonstrating what a young man with a future he is. So, he returns to the neighborhood to hang out with his old companion, Hakim, a DVD salesman and feverish movie buff... But unlike the rest of the days, this new day starts on the wrong foot... It's a story whose protagonist is the many theorists of the void that occupy the least exciting corners of our society.

Jamal is a young man trying his best to look important despite a rough day filled with problems. He wears a suit that looks fancy at first glance, but he has no shoes, and he keeps checking a dysfonctional watch as if he’s on a tight schedule. Jamal gets rejected from a job interview, kicked out by a security guard, and misses the bus. All while holding into the image of someone successful, hoping to impress others and land a job.

Through the eyes of a deaf-mute, we discover the life of three marginalized residents of Tangiers. One is a tour guide, the second a writer and the third a bureaucrat. The friend of the latter is murdered in the hotel where she works; their universe is jostled.

Housewife Nora begins posting her life on social media, and her new role as an influencer turns her family's life upside down, especially her husband's, the brilliant lawyer Abdel Wahid. However, the journey of successes and setbacks ends with her going to prison.

Documentary about Henri Matisse’s two winter stays (1912–1913) in Tangier, Morocco a pivotal period in which he produced a series of paintings combining Western avant-garde and Eastern decorative influences. The film explores how the Moroccan light, architecture and cultural context transformed Matisse’s artistic vision.

Malik and his father Mehdi live in a funfair where they work as handymen. Mehdi gives his son five special paintings. Curious Malik is dazzled by the beauty of these works. The next day, the two accidentally find themselves in the middle of a political rally. Mehdi is brutalized in front of Malik by two cops who accuse him of propaganda against the government. Later that night, the police burst into the funfair and arrested Mehdi. Shocked, Malik begins searching for his father with the help of the other showmen, finding answers in the paintings his father left behind.

Following a mysterious entity through time.

A young delinquent who has just come out of prison finds himself put to a difficult mission: to track a relative of an ex-detainee who lost his memory during the long years of his detention.

In order to honour his deceased brother's will and assert his guardianship rights, Mokhtar - a sexagenarian, single, misogynistic notary and heir like several other relatives - is determined to carry out the deceased's last wishes...

In the lost world, after a four months drought, an ordinary man randomly gets picked to be on a special radio show: Jamal Afina reveals an extraordinary journey of a life, through space and time, looking for his lost paradise.

In the vast expanse of space, a team of explorers stumbled upon an unexpected and enigmatic planet called "Peniel". A team dispatch to the planet's surface. As they confront unforeseen challenges and unearth mind-bending secrets.

In a remote village in the mountains, Yzza is still waiting for the monthly package of medicine that her husband Hossein sends to treat their daughter. Failing to have the medicine being a matter of life and death, Yzza decides to go to Casablanca to fetch it. Without a proper address and with little money in her bag, this inexperienced, religious, naïve woman does not even fathom that Casablanca is an enormous metropolis, very far from her little rural village. Yzza’s bag is stolen and in her misfortune Yzza meets a young woman, a prostitute wanted by the police. From adventure to adventure, Yzza discovers the workings of an absurd society where her sensible codes are pushed and shoved. Director Naoufel Berraoui skillfully knits the portrayal of a city swarming with cars and people with the dramatic lives of his characters. A remarkable cast directed with sensitivity in a poignant drama with documentary-like accents.

A young man having his first cigarette.

The film follows Zaynab an-Nafzawiyyah, wife of husband Prince Yusuf ibn Tashfin, founder of the city of Marrakech during the Almoravid era

Full of revolutionary romanticism and also influenced by western culture in his final years at high school, Salmi declares his atheism to his father, but hides from everyone his love for his English teacher, a beautiful young woman from Paris.

A portrait of a large Maghrebian city at the end of the century, Casablanca, through the intersecting paths of three characters: a bookseller who receives unexpected correspondence that forces him to question himself; a young teacher whose application for a passport triggers an absurd official investigation; and finally, a student who, due to a misunderstanding with his fundamentalist teacher, becomes the object of a manipulation with tragic consequences.

The horrible, terrible, unpleasant, insurmountable day of Daoud who has to cross Casablanca to get to an important meeting on a day of Zemzem and cab strike while his own car is stuck in the garage...

< Above the Noise > is an intimate documentary capturing the creative retreat behind the making of NAFIDA, the collaborative EP by Small X and Saib. Joined by Yo Asel and Saad El Baraka, the four artists isolated themselves in the hills of Sidi Mghayet, Morocco, to reconnect with their craft and let the music breathe, far from the noise of the world. Together, they built the soundscape that became NAFIDA - a project born from silence, friendship, and raw inspiration.

larbi batma travels all over the morrocan countryside and talks to various people to find inspiration for his writings from the hearts of moroccan tradition