Morocco World News
Tetouan, Morocco, March 27, 2012
As part of the 18th edition of the International Festival of the Mediterranean Cinema in Tetouan, the Moroccan Association of Film Critics will organize its annual meeting that will gather Moroccan filmmakers and critics on Thursday, March 29, at Dar at-Taqafa.
This year’s meeting will focus on the great Moroccan filmmaker Hakim Belabbes and his cinematic contributions. The reason behind this selection is Belabbes’ obsession of his hometown Abi Ljaad from which his films emanate and from which he inspires his films’ personalities that reflect the essence of Moroccan culture and its people.
Hakim Belabbes experience in filmmaking is considered as a new school in Moroccan cinema that has specific distinguished features that blends the rich environments; the one he grew up in (Abi Ljaad) and the one he continued his studies in, worked and currently lives in (Chicago). Another feature is that he tends to adopt documentary film techniques in his cinema works to convey his message and give an ‘authentic” representation of the stories his films recount. Among his films: Khit Er-Rouh (2004), Ashlae (2009), and Shi Ghadi Shi Jay (2012). These films will also be screened during the festival.
The event will be an opportunity for Hakim Belabbes to meet, interact and discuss his distinguished experience in filmmaking with his fellow filmmakers, cinema critics and his audience. The meeting aims at developing the Moroccan critical thinking in the domain of cinema by opening a direct dialogue between a film director and film critics–with the involvement of the public– about his films and contributions in cinema. The discussion and interventions will be published in the format of a book to enrich the Moroccan cinema library.
Hakim Belabbes is the eighth Moroccan filmmaker to be chosen as a subject of study as part of the festival. The previous editions of the festival also celebrated the creative experience of the following Moroccan filmmakers: Hakim Nouri, Mostafa Darkaoui, Abdelkader Laqtea, Saad Chraibi, Hassan Benjelloun,Farida Belyazid, and Jilali Ferhati. So far, four books were published about the cinematic experiences of Abdelkader Laqtea (2002), Saad Chraibi (2004), Farida Belyazid (2010), and Jilali Ferhati (2011).
The meeting will host various Moroccan cinema critics, such as Mouley Driss Jaidi, Mohammed Chouika, Hamid Tbatou, Adil Semmar, Hamadi Keroum, Fatima Aghoudan, Mohammed Belefqih, Mohammed el-Bouiyadi, Said Chemlal, Bouchta Ferqzid and Al-Habib Naciri.
Filmmakers and Cinema Critics Meeting Program:
Thursday, March 29 at Dar at-Taqafa:
10 am: Opening speeches by the Organizing Committee and Hakim Belabbes.
10.30 am: First session:
- Interventions by cinema critics: Hamadi Keroum, Fatima Aghoudan, Mohammed Belefqih, and Mohammed Chouika.
- Hakim Belabbes’ responses to the interventions.
- Open discussion with the audience.
3 pm: Second session:
- Interventions by cinema critics: Bouchta Ferqzid, Al-Habib Naciri, Adil Semmar, Mouley Driss Jaidi and Hamid Tbatou.
- Hakim Belabbes’ responses to the interventions.
- Open discussion with the audience.
- Closing of the meeting
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