Today's Moroccan cinema is becoming a point of reference if one wants to have an insight into the changes taking place in Morocco, especially at the social level. The last decade has seen the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers who take a different approach to the role of cinema in the context of a society that faces difficult challenges and where problems such as corruption, lack of opportunities, marginality and the rise of religious fundamentalism persist.
In the context of the Moroccan Cultural Week we will have the opportunity to get closer to this cinema with the film Casanegrawhich serves as an example of this new wave of Moroccan cinema that is not afraid to confront taboos such as prostitution or the hidden reality of criminality. And all of this is based on artistic quality and recognition both at international festivals and at home in Morocco.
After the screening of CasanegraThe event will be followed by a debate with its director, Noureddine Lakhmari, and Larbi El Harti, writer, cultural activist and director of APAIUC (Association pour l'Action Interculturelle Universitaire Citoyenne). This event will also mark the start of the October cycle of Tuesday Cinema, where four other Moroccan films will be screened.
Free admission until full capacity is reached.
About Casanegra
Noureddine Lakhmari (Morocco, 2008, 130 minutes)
Synopsis. Adil and Karim, two childhood friends, make a living with petty theft and scams, the only way they can survive in the Casablanca of the poor, the Casablanca of lack of opportunities, the one they have renamed 'Casanegra' and from which they want to flee to emigrate to Sweden. Reality crosses their path with the proposal of Zrirek, a criminal who seduces them to take part in a coup that will apparently bring them much more than they can imagine.
About Noureddine Lakhmari
Noureddine Lakhmari began his film career in Norway, where he was based in the mid-1980s. His short films (with excluded and lonely characters on the fringes of society) won him several awards and entry into the Norwegian Film Academy.
Back in Casablanca, his first feature film, Le regard (2005), won over the critics. After his stint on television as director of the crime series El Kadiareturned to cinema with Casanegra (2008), a successful film noir which was selected to represent Morocco at the Oscars. In his third feature film, Zero (2012), took up the theme of the law, delinquency and those excluded from society in the context of contemporary Morocco. He is currently preparing the filming of The return.
About Larbi El Harti
Larbi El Harti is professor of Spanish literature at the University of Rabat and president of the APAIUC (Centre for Intercultural University Citizen Action). He is a recognised and award-winning writer (his book of short stories After Tangier won the Sial Prize in 2003), as well as a literary translator (Cunqueiro, Goytisolo, etc.).
A cultural activist specialising in intercultural dialogue and the promotion of human rights, he has directed several Moroccan and Spanish-Moroccan festivals, film cycles, meetings, seminars and artistic residencies.
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