The Moroccan director about his film: "Hope for much-needed debate in the country"

"The blue caftan" is an Arabic-language drama film from 2022 and is about a woman and her secretly gay husband, who run a caftan shop in the medina of Salé, Morocco, whose relationship is turned upside down when they hire a young man as an apprentice.

The film is Morocco's contribution to next year's edition of the Oscars in the category "best international feature film" and has received a lot of attention as it discusses LGBTQ issues in Morocco, where you risk up to three years in prison for so-called "homosexual acts".

Hope for a healthy debate

The film's director Maryam Touzani hopes the film will provoke "much-needed debate" around same-sex relationships and challenge the taboos that exist in Morocco.

- I hope that the film will contribute to a healthy debate to make the laws develop, because there are very restrictive laws.

And if we don't get legislation to develop, we can't expect attitudes to change, says Maryam Touzani to AFP.

Hear Maryam Touzani talk about her film in the clip above.