Transnational Moroccan Cinema
Transnational Moroccan Cinema
The Transnational Moroccan Cinema project is a three-year, AHRC-funded project, running from December 2015 – December 2018. The project is led by Professor Will Higbee (University of Exeter, UK), working with an international team of researchers: Professor Florence Martin (USA,/France), Dr Stefanie Van de Peer (UK/Belgium) and Dr Jamal Bahmad (UK/Morocco). The project analyses the rise of Moroccan cinema over the last two decades from relative obscurity to a position where it is arguably now amongst the most important national cinemas within Africa and the Arab world. The project aims to explore the critical and commercial success of Moroccan cinema through a transnational lens, analysing the global reach of this ‘small’ national cinema through its relationship with diasporic filmmakers, the role of festivals and international co-productions as well as the place of local and global audiences in the age of digital disruption. The project places a strong emphasis on collaboration with filmmakers, festivals, policy makers, film schools and industry figures, working with (amongst others) the Chamber of Moroccan Film Producers, The Africa in Motion film festival (Edinburgh), The London Film School and The International Film School Festival (Tétouan). With these partners the project aims to contribute to a transnational understanding of Moroccan identity through cinema, the identity of Moroccan cinema, and its role on the scale of a global film circuit. Through symposia, contributions to film festivals and publications, the researchers behind the project hope to open up a platform for international dialogue around Moroccan cinema that might also form a model for other ‘small’ national cinemas from the global south.
