In June 2007 Granada will host its first festival of films from Africa, Asia, South and Central America – Cine del Sur. This week we were treated to a first course: 3 days of films by and discussions with Maghrebi filmakers.
From Morocco, Jillali Ferhati presented his film ‘Mémoire en détention’ (2004)
Set in Morocco during the “Años de plomo” years where political violence was used on an everyday basis and government repression was at its height,Mokhtar (Ferhati) is a political prisoner who has been in detention for many years and has lost his memory. He is befriended by Zoubeir a younger prisoner (Mohamed Merouazi)and we acompany them on their journey of discovery and recovered memories as they leave prison together. Their relasionship develops as Zoubeir searches for answers to questions about his own father who was a militant too and gradually aids Mokhtar to remember his painful history. A paralel storyline has Zahra (Fatima Loukili), returned from many years ofd exile, on her own journey, looking for her old friend Mokhtar…
Ferhati spoke of his concern not to offend those who will see the film that lived through those dark times.
“This film is a modest homage to all those people (who were imprisoned, tortured, killed or disapeared) , those who were imprisoned for years in the 70’s and thanks to them Morocco is able to achieve what it is today.”
For me this was a powerful but subtle film that manages to travel from one man and one country’s journey to a representation of the pain of the individual in war torn countries, those who leave,those who stay and the legacy for their children.
It reminded me of Malika Oufkir´s biography ‘La prisoniere’ (Stolen Lives).
From Tunisia, Ferid Boughedir presented his film ‘Un été á la Goulette’ (1996)
A comedy set in La Goulette,the tourist beach resort of Tunis in the summer of 1967, in the days leading up to the six day arab-israeli war. We spend the film with three middle class Tunisian families, one moslem,one jewish and one christian who are neighbours and friends. The three teenage daughters get together to plot losing their virginity on august the 15th…
Boughedir spoke of wanting to record a moment of the past that could be useful for the present. He grew up in this diverse community of different religions, and says that although the film is his own subjective vision and certainly not a documentary, it is based on true events and the ‘bon vivants’ of La Goulette. He says the one sentence that unites these three tunisian fathers of different religions is:’Touche pas a ma fille’ (hands off my daughter)!. He spoke of his films as mirrors for a local audience in which they can situate themselves,of the artist’s ability to point out a peoples’ cultural components to themselves and teach them their own history. This film was the product of his personal need to reclaim the cultures of his childhood, but remains an artist’s gaze on the world.This film was a great success in Tunisia and Boughedir found it reassuring that in his discussions with young tunisians about the film he found them to be far more interested in the issues of virginity and parent/teenage relations, as you would expect any teenagers to be, than in the religious issue.
This film managed to evoque a whole time and place that no longer exists and reminded me very much of my own (pre-war) childhood in Beirut where as children we were thrilled that there were so many religions because it meant that we had loads of school holidays!
From Algeria, Merzak Allouache ‘Salut Cousin’. (Unfortunately due to illness, Allouache was not able to attend the festival).
Set in Paris´buzzing cosmopolitan 18eme arrondisement, our young Algerian hero Alilo (Gad Elmaleh) travels to Paris for the first time ‘on business’ but manages to lose the address his boss has given him where he is supposed to collect a suitcase of merchandise to take back to Algiers. So he´s stuck in Paris for 5 days staying with his mad cousin Mok (Messaoud Hattau). We have great fun following them around Paris and watching and hoping as he falls in love with Mok’s beautiful neighbour Fatoumata (Magaly Berdy).
The film shows a side of Paris that is rarely if ever seen on film. The Arab and African immigrants and their second and third generation French children, the poverty, the unemployment, the high rise ghettos, the racist violence and police harrassment and unexpected deportations. For example, the police arrive at Mok´s apartment and inform him that he is to be deported and must pack his bags as his flight will leave in an hour. Made in 1996, the film shows something of the daily world in which the deaths of Bouna Traore, aged 15, and Zyed Benna, aged 17 took place last year and the subsequent riots. The fact that the film is a comedy enabled the darker and more serious moments to come accross very effectively.
In addition to the interviews of the directors and the showing of the films there was
a round table discussion with Ferhati and Boughedir where they discussed issues around African film such as
- the problems of the US’s imperial policy of imposing Hollywood as their most profitable export and activaly pressuring countries to prevent the development of their own cinema,
- the consequent difficulties of distribution and funding,
-African/European co productions,
- France’s unconditional investment in African cinema,
-Countries strategies for promoting and protecting their own cinema,
-UNESCO’s convention for cultural diversity (voted against by Us and Israel),
-The audience:As filmakers who are they making their films for?
-African film as social commentary ,entertainement or both?
-Diversity in African film production,
-the possibility of Granada’s new Cine del Sur festival being a space for an equal dialogue between cultures and their cultural productions,
