Laayoune hosts 5th documentary film festival on Hassani heritage
The city of Laayoune is hosting, December 19 to 22, the fifth documentary film festival on Sahrawi Hassani culture, history and space.
Twelve films have been selected for this year’s competition, whose jury will be chaired by the scriptwriter and expert in communication and advertising, Mohamed Laâroussi.
This outstanding four-day cinematographic meeting aims to encourage documentary films and cinematographic productions in Morocco’s southern provinces. The festival also aims to promote and publicize documentary productions dealing with the various components of the Hassani cultural heritage, as an essential component of Moroccan national identity.
It also provides a platform of exchange to cinema professionals in the southern provinces and a podium to highlight the Hassani civilization, culture and history, which are part of the Moroccan plural identity.
The Moroccan Cinema Center (CCM) has, since 2015, set up two mechanisms to support film production in the southern provinces, namely the creation of a fund dedicated to encouraging productions fully dedicated to the Sahrawi Hassani heritage and to upgrade the training of cinema professionals in this region.
The majority of films competing for the festival’s prize list (Grand Prize, prizes for best production, best music…) have benefited from the CCM’s support.
The jury President Mohamed Laâroussi will be accompanied by human rights activist Zoubida Sellami; Hassani journalist and cultural researcher Erraâboub Bahay; journalist and film festival director Charaf Eddine Zine El Abidine; and director, scriptwriter and producer El Mahjoub Doua.
The films in competition are “A Letter to Baroja” by Mohamed Bouhari; “If Jelwa had been told to me” by Jnane Fatine Mohammadi; “Exiled Children” by Hakim Kebabi; “Bassiri, the lost act” by Loubna Lyounsi; “Meteorite hunters” by Bouchta Ibrahimi; “Two witnesses at Al Baidane” by Mohamed Boussalem; “Al Mikhyal” by Ahmed Bouchalgua; “Al Mistahdi bi Noujoum” by Abdelhakim Baidaoui; “The Forgotten War” by Asmae Elmoudir; “Sahara, Enchanting Melodies” by Abdelilah Zirat; “Al Rihla Al Hijazia (Pilgrimage)” by Mohamed Fadel Maoilainin; and “Oued Noun and the caravan trade” by Yassine Aït Fkir.
