Friday March 12th in Rabat, the Office National Marocain du Tourisme (ONMT) and the Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM) signed a partnership agreement to promote Morocco in the international film and audiovisual industry. The goal is to make the country more attractive to foreign producers and to encourage growth.
According to Observateur.info, this partnership plans to develop an offer called “Morocco, Shooting and Support” in order to “show Morocco’s strengths as a destination and its advantages in terms of infrastructure, financial incentives and administrative facilities.”
An online platform is planned to inform film and broadcasting companies about the country’s production opportunities.
The agreement is a positive move for a sector hard hit by the health crisis. Back in November 2020 industry professionals were already asking “What future for the film industry after Covid-19?” In a webinar they had called for the survival of the country’s film industry to be put at the heart of the government’s priorities.
The first foreign productions had colonial aims
Foreign productions in Morocco were initially colonial. A book by Moulay Driss Jaïdi, “Histoire du cinéma au Maroc, le cinéma colonial” shows that French military propaganda documentaries were being filmed there at the beginning of the 20th century. It was not until 1958 that Mohamed Ousfour shot the first Moroccan feature, “Le fils maudit”.
At its peak, Morocco had more than 240 cinemas, with nearly 42 million tickets sold in 1980. But between 1994 and 2005 cinema takings fell by 77% because of satellite TV and DVD’s.
Find all the news about Moroccan films by clicking here.
Sources: mapexpress.ma, albayane.press.ma, jeuneafrique.com, friendsofmorroco.org, aljazeera.com, aujourdhui.ma, observateur.info
