By Chaimae Boulifa
Rabat – Following in the footsteps of recent popular in-car interview shows, the fifth edition of Tangier’s Europe-Orient Documentary Film Festival, to be held September 19 to 23, will host its own video series, “Doc Taxi,” inviting famous guests to discover Tangier while being interviewed in a taxi.
“The main purpose of Doc Taxi is to promote the impressive landscapes and artistic sides of Tangier, as we feel that the festival’s well-known guests will be ambassadors of the city’s image when they return to their home countries,” Sohaib El Ouassani, the festival director, told Morocco World News, explaining that “as part of the welcoming process, we feel a need to display the city’s beautiful touristic spots for the renowned participants.”
“This original festival idea has two specific functions: giving the event’s guests a chance to explore the city’s rich culture, and having the audience discover the personal and professional life of our guests, in an original and creative manner,” said El Ouassani.
The interviewers differ in each episode and will be chosen from among festival staff depending on the guests’ backgrounds and their fields of expertise.
“If the guest is a filmmaker, the interviewer will be certainly aware of the domain of cinematography,” noted El Ouassani. “Sometimes we can have two guests interviewing each other and discussing, if one of them knows the region, very well.”
Being a driver and a journalist at the same time might not not be an easy task to fulfil, but Chaimae Bousgoura, the festival’s secretary, recalled that she managed to do it herself during the festival’s previous edition during the first run of “Doc Taxi.”
“Even though the interview was not live, I felt stressed, since it was actually the first time I put on the mask of a journalist and interviewed a well-known figure,” explained Bousgoura, who interviewed the Moroccan artist Majida Benkirane. “For this second edition we will probably have a driver beside the journalist in order to make it easier for the interviewer.”
This second edition of “Doc Taxi” will see the participation of Moroccan film director Hakim Belabbesand film criticKhalil Damoun, as well as other guests.
“The first edition of ‘Doc Taxi’ had six episodes, [but we are] hoping to exceed a total of 15 episodes in this fifth edition, depending on the participants’ availability and festival‘s financial resources,” affirmed El Ouassani.
The Europe-Orient Documentary Film Festival will be held this week in the city’s Boukmakh cultural center, aiming to shed light on the culture of documentary films and develop Moroccans’ artistic and aesthetic tastes for cinema through conferences, exhibitions, workshops, and documentary film screenings.
