MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — After the movie “Cabo Negro” screened at the Marrakech International Film Festival this week, organizers anticipating backlash whisked its crew away and canceled screenwriter-director Abdellah Taia’s scheduled post-film Q&A.
The film was approved to be shot by authorities in Morocco and selected as one the Festival’s 70 feature films. It is the story of a pair of young men who spent a summer on the beach in the northern part of the country.
“I am Moroccan. I am gay. Taia introduced the film to a screening of the film in the last week. She said that she always wanted the reality about Moroccan gays to be shown on the screen. “I created the love that I did not receive as a child, and put it into Cabo Negro to share it with today’s Moroccan youth.
The topic of “Cabo negro” isn’t new. Sixteen years ago, Taia was first out in Moroccan press and eleven years later, he screened his first film with homosexual protagonists. It was also not surprising that his words were in sync with those of other directors and actors at the festival, who praised films of all kinds.
The events that followed revealed some of the tensions that animate the Moroccan film industry.
The Marrakech Festival rolls out the red carpet every year. Movie stars attend to enjoy sunny winter weather and luxurious resorts, and to praise cinema’s power to change people’s minds. The event concluded on Saturday, and stars like actor Sean Penn and director Luca Guadagnino were in attendance. The image of freedom in Morocco’s cinema industry that is projected by the festival often clashes against the censorship and economic reality faced by filmmakers.
As new film festivals are held in countries such as Saudi Arabia and China – the second largest entertainment industry in the world – tensions have increased.
Moroccan television censors kissing scenes in movies like “Titanic”, “Spiderman”, or other films. Audiences will be able to applaud a movie about Iran’s suppression of protests nationwide in 2022. Moroccan journalists and activists who criticize the government are still being sentenced to jail time, even as recent as last month. Moroccan films such as “Cabo Ngro” are allowed to be shown but homosexuality is still illegal under Moroccan penal code.
Moroccan films, both at home and abroad
Morocco’s film sector has reached new heights in the last decade. Movies have won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, and productions such as “Gladiator II”, shot there.
It remains small in the domestic market despite its growth. Morocco expects to sell $11 million in tickets by 2024, almost twice the amount sold a decade earlier. Fewer than half of the tickets are sold for Moroccan films.
The Moroccan film authority offered support of $5.9million to 32 films in this year. That’s about $184,000 for each movie. Due to the higher costs of making movies, most films look for state or private funding outside Morocco. This can be in Europe or Middle East. This funding environment encourages filmmakers to create films that appeal to western producers and can be approved by Moroccan authorities.
