‘Night Walk’ Becomes First Moroccan Film to Hit Hollywood

Rabat – “Night Walk,” a film by Moroccan director Aziz Tazi is set to become the first Moroccan film to hit Hollywood. The movie, starring Mickey Rourke, Sean Stone, and Eric Roberts, is set for distribution in Hollywood and across North America in the coming months.

American actor Sean Stone stars as Frank, a western journalist who meets and falls in love with an intelligent Arab woman played by Sarah Alami.

After Sarah dies in a tragic accident, Frank is wrongly imprisoned by corrupt police. In his quest for justice, Frank resorts to breaking out of prison to seek revenge on those who destroyed his life.

The film also stars Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts, Ricco Ross, Richard Tyson, Louis Mandylor, and Patrick Kilpatrick.

Filming for the movie took place between Los Angeles and several cities in Morocco including Casablanca, Marrakech, Rabat, and Settat, and was set to release in spring 2021 via Grindstone Entertainment Group, with Scatena & Rosner Films.

“I want people who see it to understand that the Arab-Muslim community is no different from others. Today, there is a very monolithic trend of this community, that is to say, terrorists, oriental dancers, or billionaires. This is not the case,” said Aziz Tazi, in an interview with the French-based Moroccan economic weekly magazine Challenge, explaining the message he wanted to convey through the film.

“It was a really great experience,” Golden Globe and British Acadamy Film Awards winner (BAFTA) Mickey Rourke said in an interview on Good Morning Britain. “The enthusiasm of this guy who was only 28 years old,” said the actor of Tazi. “He wasn’t terrified of working with me, he was just very excited to work with me, ” He added.

Night Walk made its debut at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2019 and was screened in the opening of the Prague Independent Film Festival’s fourth edition at the Kino Pilotů cinema in 2019. Aziz also won the “Best Screenplay” award and Rourke the “Best Supporting Actor” award at the same festival.

Aziz also featured in the American business magazine Forbes Africa “30 Under 30” list of the brightest young entrepreneurs, leaders, and industry figures in 2016. Some of his other work is his short film ‘Imago’ which opened the Arab Film Festival in 2013, and his documentary ‘Arab Stories’ was aired on PBS in 2014.