This is the first book length study to consider the transnational dimension of Moroccan cinema. Over the past two decades, cinematic production has increased dramatically in Morocco, with Moroccan films leading at the domestic box office and being selected for prestigious international festivals such as Cannes and Berlin. And yet, Moroccan cinema remains little known outside of its national borders. This book asks why this might be and, in so doing, analyses the actual state of Moroccan national cinema beyond a post-colonial optic. Featuring interviews with filmmakers and key industry figures, such as Hicham Laari, Nadir Boumouch and Tala Hadid, the book explores Moroccan cinema's transnational reach through a focus on the cultural politics of international co-production, the role of international festivals as alternative distribution networks, piracy and digital disruption, film education and activism.
Industry Reviews
Moroccan Cinema Uncut is a substantial contribution and a timely publication for those who want to fully understand the implicit and explicit dynamics of filmmaking in the country. It opens up new theoretical ways of reading Moroccan films and of thinking transnationally about them. In short, this is a well-researched/documented book, enriched more by various case studies and interviews with key figures, which will be of great interest to anyone working on or teaching film, media and gender studies in the kingdom. It offers the reader fascinating insights into the changing patterns of Moroccan cinema and society alike.--Said Chemlal, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University "Journal of African Cinemas"
A collaborative tour de force, Transnational Moroccan Cinema Uncut explores the conditions--including festivals, film labs, production hubs, and diasporic flows of capital and talent--that have allowed Morocco to emerge, during thesince the 1990s, as one of Africa's most significant producers of theatrically -released features. Compelling from beginning to end, Transnational Moroccan Cinema Uncut shows us the value, not only of the Moroccan cinema in question, but of an analytic framework focusing on transnationality. With their generous, inventive, precise, and always well-grounded theoretical explorations, Jamal Bahmad, Will Higbee, and Flo Martin help to transform transnational cinema studies into a truly mature, and no longer merely emerging, field of study.--Mette Hjort, Dean of Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University