In Casablanca, in 1974, four Moroccan filmmakers decide to take to the streets and talk to people about a question they consider fateful: what kind of cinema does Morocco need? A unique experience directed by the light Moroccan veteran director Mustapha Derkaoui in his film «events without significance», which was shown yesterday in the section «Panorama of Moroccan cinema» during the 18th session of the International Film Festival in Marrakech. The film revolves around four young filmmakers who attempt to shape Moroccan cinema identity in the 1970s, when Moroccan cinema was groping and redefining itself in the post-independence era. The four decide to take to the streets to talk to people, know their impressions of Moroccan cinema, and their expectations of what this cinema should address.
Of course, the answers range from those who only care about the entertainment value of cinema, who wants cinema to be the voice of the working class and the visual platform to raise their problems, and those who want intimate personal films, but the answer that interests the four directors comes to them by the docker, when he tells them «I "I don't know what to expect from the cinema."
Their curiosity about this agent leads them to follow him, and the events of the film take a dramatic turn when these directors document their murder with their camera. The search for the motive for this crime forces them to reconsider their perceptions of cinema and the role of the artist in society.
The feature film is predominantly documentary in nature, thanks to the smooth movement of the camera, which rotates to pick up conversations randomly. Some of Morocco's most important artists and intellectuals are participating in the film.
But the element of adventure in this film is not only its idea, but also the conditions of its production and presentation. The film, produced in 1974, was only shown once in Paris, before a decision was banned in Morocco. The film ends up in the archives of the Spanish province of Catalonia.
But the film Filoteca de Catalunya extracted the original 16-millimeter film and restored it to bring the film back to light. It was released more than 45 years after it was first produced at the Berlin Film Festival in February.