Nabil Ayouch describes the participation as “a dessert that I have craved for a long time.”

Moroccan director travels hip-hop artists to Cannes

Ayoush movie “Raise Your Voice” deals with the story of teenagers obsessed with the culture of “hip hop”.

AFP

Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch fulfilled a dream of "Childhood Dreams" by choosing his film "Ali Your Voice", for the first time, in the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival, a work that delves into the worlds of youth obsessed with "hip-hop".

The director, who also holds French citizenship, jokingly compares the feeling of participating in the international event to the joy of "finally getting a dessert I've been craving for so long," as he says, speaking in his elegant office in Casablanca.

At the age of 52, Ayouch became the second Moroccan film director to have one of his works selected for the Great Film Festival, which concludes its 74th session, next Saturday, in southern France.

The festival hosted the film of its compatriot Abdulaziz Ramadani “Rhythms and Spirits” in 1962.

“Ali Your Voice” deals with the story of a group of teenagers obsessed with the culture of “hip hop”: “They have many things they want to say without having the tools of expression,” as Ayouch explains, expressing at the same time “happiness” mixed with a kind of “modesty” for his presence. In «Cannes» next to great cinematic figures.

The events of the film take place in the marginal neighborhood of Sidi Moumen in Casablanca, which became famous in 2003 when most of the suicide bombers who carried out bloody attacks in the economic capital at the time, leaving 33 people dead.

The director had previously filmed in this neighborhood scenes from his movie “Ali Zawa” in 1999, about the story of homeless children.

He also returned to film scenes from the movie "Ya Khelil Allah" (2012), based on a novel by writer Mahi Binibin, about the extremism of the 12 suicide bombers who carried out the 2003 attacks.

In 2014, Nabil Ayouch established in this neighborhood the “Al-Nojoum” cultural center, which offers workshops to learn music and dance for young people, in a neighborhood that has long suffered from the absence of any cultural facilities.

He attracted among his patrons most of the actors of the movie "Ali Your Voice".

"I did not photograph misery"

The selection of “Ali Your Voice” for the official competition in “Cannes” was widely praised in Morocco, in contrast to the fiery reactions provoked by the screening of his penultimate film “Zein Levi Fik” in the “Directors’ Weeks” segment, during the 2015 Cannes Festival.

The film, which depicts the circles of prostitution in the capital of Moroccan tourism, Marrakesh, was banned from showing in the kingdom's halls, and an official statement accused Ayouch of "harming the moral values ​​and Moroccan women."

The matter did not stop there, as the director received threats, and was subjected to a massive campaign of criticism on social sites.

“A page that I have not completely folded yet, but its wounds have healed, and nothing has diminished my resolve,” says Ayouch today.

critical voices

Critics accuse the director, who also runs a television production company, of insulting the country's image, exploiting the misery of others, or seeking to portray what a Western audience demands.

But Ayush responds to these criticisms, stressing, "Those who say that I take advantage of the misery of others does not watch my films. I have never depicted misery, and my vision does not include even a single speck of misery."

He adds, "It is true that I want my films to travel outside Morocco, but my first audience is the Moroccan viewer," this viewer who first discovered Ayouch in 1999 with his film "Maktoub", which was also shown in the framework of the Berlin Film Festival that year.

From the outskirts of Paris to Sidi Moumen

On the other hand, the film “Ali Your Voice” seems more intimate to the director, and it resembles an echo of his childhood spent in Sarcelles, on the outskirts of Paris, the stage from which he kept the memory of “the youth house, which was a temple for me, in which I learned to see the world.”

An experience that Ayouch wanted to repeat by establishing the “Nojoom” cultural center in the Sidi Moumen neighborhood in Casablanca.

It was in this center specifically that the idea of ​​the film brewed in his mind, while he was watching artistic performances by young people from its pioneers.

"It is amazing to see these young people dancing or reciting artistic texts," he says. "I wanted the whole world to hear what they had to say."

In order to “show this wonderful youth”, Ayouch changed his way of working, continuing for two years shooting and editing with “constantly rewriting the script”, as the film remains an imaginary work, although it is rooted in reality.

This adventure also yielded another idea by launching a production company specializing in hip-hop music (New District) late last year, and its artistic director, Anas Basbous, a former rapper, also plays a role in the movie “Ali Your Voice.”

Nabil Ayouch is the second Moroccan director to have his film work selected for Cannes.

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