Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(and another secret of success) is their focus on the daily issues and dilemmas faced by or-
dinary Africans.
Thousands of films later, the industry is well established, and in recognition of the
growing importance of the industry to Nigeria's economy, in 2010 president Goodluck
Jonathon announced the creation of a $200 million loan fund to help finance local movie-
making.
Moolade,
the powerful 2004 film by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène, is one of the few mass-re-
lease artistic endeavours to tackle head-on the taboo issue of female genital mutilation.
Morocco
Until recently Morocco has been seen mostly as a stunning movie backdrop, easily upsta-
ging the actors in such dubious cinematic achievements as
Alexandar
,
Ishtar
,
The Four
Feathers
,
The Mummy
,
Troy
and
Sahara
. The country also had more golden moments
on the silver screen in Hitchcock's
The Man Who Knew Too Much
, Orson Welles'
Othello
,
Gladiator
, and David Lean's
Lawrence of Arabia
. It has certainly proved its
versatility with some big-name directors: it stunt-doubled for Somalia in Ridley Scott's
Black Hawk Down
, stood in for Tibet in Martin Scorcese's
Kundun
, and stole the show
right out from under John Malkovich by playing itself in Bernardo Bertolucci's
The Shel-
tering Sky
. It also serves as the location for more than 1000 French, German and Italian
productions each year.
French-backed independent Moroccan films are also now showing in select cinemas
and on satellite television, and Franco-Moroccan films are now serious festival con-
tenders. Franco-Moroccan director Leila Marrakchi was awarded 'Un Certain Regard' at
the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for her first feature,
Marock
. In 2011 Mohamed Mouftakir
won the prestigiou s Étalon d'Or in the Fespaco film festival.
