At Cinecitta’ Luce. Casablanca school risks closure, Sovena
(ANSAmed) – ROME, MARCH 1 – Said and Amine dream of living in Andalusia and secretly decided to leave home, while Adil and Karim live by their wits in the streets of Casablanca: both end up amid a life of violence and social decay. Twenty-year-old Mehdi is the son of a separated couple belonging to two diverse cultures, who at age 15 decided to rediscover his roots, leaving Europe to return to his origins in Morocco. Rihana is instead a girl in a general state of unease who, raised in the country, is brought up as a boy on her father’s wishes. And then there is a love story, between M’Key, a young man living on the margins of society who earns his living by working as a parking assistant, and Rita, a beautiful girl kept a close eye on by my brothers.
The backdrop is that of the death of Moroccan King Hassan II and the uncertain future of the kingdom. These are the tales told in ‘Andalusie Mon Amour’ (2011), by Mohamed Nadif; ‘Casanegra’ (2008), the hotly-contested film by Nour Eddine Lakhmari; ‘Le Retour du Fils’ (2011), by Ahmed Boulane; ‘Pegase’ (2010), by Mohamed Mouftakir and Hicham Lasri’s ‘The End’ (2011). Five very successful films in Morocco which will be presented tomorrow evening in Rome during the ”Italy-Morocco, encounter between two cinematography styles” held by Cinecittà Luce and Palazzo Incontro.
”It is a chance to present the best of contemporary Moroccan cinematography, as well as to launch an appeal,” ANSA was told by the Luciano Sovena, Cinecittà Luce’s managing director.
Casablanca’s Arts and Trades School is at risk of shutting down despite the work of the past nine years. Without the funds from the Lazio regional government, the institute – the natural evolution of the project activated by Cinecittà Luce and the regional government in 2003, when the first Euro-Mediterranean Film Centre was created in Ouazarzat – may be forced to close down shortly. ”There is the need for 200,000 euros to prevent this project from coming to an end, since Cinecittà cannot do it alone.” The project was created to train a generation of Moroccan professionals to enable them to work for film productions (especially Italian ones) made in Morocco.
Over the past few years the school, located in one of the most working class areas of the Moroccan city, Sidi Moumen, has become a reference point for the youth frequenting it – who attend ”entirely free of charge”, as Sovena noted. The editing, make-up, production, photography and audio technique classes are held by some of the most highly qualified Italian cinematographers in Italian.
In the past Ouazarzat has played host to numerous European and Hollywood productions. Producing locally is convenient. For this reason, the Casablanca school, which has up until now has always given preference to investments from small and medium-sized audiovisual companies from Lazio, seems fundamental.
”Through the use of audiovisual experts from the region by Moroccan producers, the technical content of the films has improved to the point that their films have won a number of technical awards in many international festivals. In addition to discovering new talent, Cinecittà Luce promotes the distribution of some foreign films.” ”We have just bought 12 films, the best blockbusters currently in circulation in Moroccan, which will be distributed on demand (VOD), through the Cubovision platform,” Sovena added.
The directors Lamia Chraibi, Nour Eddine Lakhmari and Aureliano Amadei, who made the film ”Twenty Cigarettes” (2010) will be in attendance at Palazzo Incontro. (ANSAmed).
