Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MOROCCO'S LANDMARK CINEMA REVIVAL
Despite Morocco's creative boom, cinephiles have begun to fear for Morocco's movie palaces, since
ticket prices can't compete with cheap pirated DVDs. In 2007, only 5% of Morocco's population went
to the movies, while more than 400,000 pirated DVDs were symbolically seized from souq stalls in
Rabat and Casablanca. Thirty years ago, there were 250 cinemas in Morocco; in 2010, only 30 were
left.
Moroccan cinema buffs are rallying with
Save Cinemas in Marocco
(savecinemas inmarocco.com)
, an initiative that is preserving and promoting Morocco's historic movie palaces as architectural won-
ders and key modern landmarks in Morocco's ancient storytelling tradition. Tangier's 1930s Cinema
Rif reopened in 2006 as Cinematheque de Tanger, a nonprofit cinema featuring international inde-
pendent films and documentaries. Cinema Camera in Meknès - possibly Morocco's most glorious art-
deco picture house - continues to thrive on mainstream Egyptian, Hollywood and Bollywood fare.
Check out its fabulous 'Golden Era Hollywood' mural as its stairs sweep up to the auditorium.
The Moroccan government is showing initiative, too: in 2008, the state launched Aflam, a new,
free, national TV channel showcasing Moroccan-made movies, and films dubbed or subtitled in
French, Darija and Tamazight. With the runaway success of the Marrakesh International Film Festival,
state-sponsored movie festivals are springing up across Morocco; check
www.maghrebarts.ma/
cinema.html
for schedules.
Morocco's Directorial Breakthrough
Historically, Morocco has imported its blockbusters from Bollywood, Hollywood and
Egypt, but today, Moroccans are getting greater opportunities to see films shot in Morocco
that are actually by Moroccans and about Morocco. The home-grown film industry pro-
duced 18 feature films and 80 shorts in 2010, compared with four features and six shorts
in 2004.
Moroccan filmmakers are putting decades of Ouallywood filmmaking craft and centur-
ies of local storytelling tradition to work telling epic modern tales, often with a
cinéma
vérité
edge. Morocco's 2010 Best Foreign Film Oscar contender was Nour-Eddine Lakh-
mari's
Casanegra,
about Casablanca youth thinking fast and growing up faster as they
confront the darker aspects of life in the White City. Other hits include Latif Lahlou's
2010
La Grande Villa,
tracking one couple's cultural and personal adjustments after relo-
cating from Paris to Casablanca.
How big is Bollywood in Morocco? In 2005, more than a third of the movies shown in Morocco
were Bollywood ilms, and a 2008 Casablanca screening of
Chalte Chalte
starring Shahrukh Khan
with an in-person appearance by co-star Rani Mukerji drew 50,000 devoted fans.
