Ahmed Bouanani

السراب

Ahmed Bouanani

Mohamed El Habachi, Mohamed Saïd Hafifi

Ahmed Bouanani’s first feature film played a pivotal role in bringing experimentalism to Moroccan cinema. It’s a fable-like story of a poor young farmer who finds treasure in a flour bag. This takes him on a journey where nothing is as it seems. The film’s narrative structure frequently makes reference to mythology and literature, utilizing Morocco’s rich history and oral traditions.

Thakirah Arba'at 'Ashar

Ahmed Bouanani

Crafted exclusively from film archives, Thakirah Arba’at 'Ashar (1971) was Ahmed Bouanani’s first feature, but the censors forced him to cut it down from 2 hours and 18 minutes to 24 minutes.

Sitta wa Thaniat 'Ashar

Abdelmajid Rechiche, Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi

Six and Twelve is one of a series of short films and documentaries produced under the auspices of the Centre Cinématographique Marocain in the years after Moroccan independence. While most of these were utilitarian in nature, Bouanani, Tazi, and Rechiche took a different route with this film, creating a modernist “city symphony” film that documented six hours in the life of the city of Casablanca. Combining a hard bebop soundtrack with stunning black and white cinematography and a radical editing style, the film stands as a document to the energetic experimentation of this period of Moroccan art and cinema.

Obour al bab assabea

Ali Essafi

Ahmed Bouanani, Naïma Saoudi

Ali Essafi visited Bouanani three years before the latter’s death. The filmmaker, poet and novelist who also made drawings was leading a reclusive life in a remote village with his wife Naïma and many cats, living in the midst of huge piles of books and manuscripts.

طرفاية أو مسيرة شاعر

Ahmed Bouanani

Ahmed Naji, Abdeslam Sefrioui

A man from Tarfaya, penetrated by the magnificence of his country, the power of its beauty and the nomadic life of his ancestors goes in search of a great popular poet. He would be able to teach him wisdom, music, and the wonderful art of singing and poetry.

Al-Manabe' al-Arba'a

Ahmed Bouanani

Kabir Benbich, Naïma Saoudi

Ahmed Bouanani’s Al-Manabe' al-Arba'a (1977), a very low-budget fantastical adaption of a poetic fable, features his wife Naïma Saoudi, who also worked as an art director and set designer. It is his only film in colour, which convinced him that his vocation was to work in black and white.