Back in 2012, Asmae El Moudir started her magnum opus, “The Mother of all Lies,” which debuted at Cannes 2023, where it won the Best Documentary prize. Morocco submitted the film for Oscar consideration, and it made the International shortlist, though not Best Documentary; the PGA nominated the film for Best Documentary, and it won Best Director from the IDA. “The Mother of All Lies” is playing in the Sundance Spotlight section (where screenings are sold out) and is nominated for Foreign Language Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.
The movie accomplished this without a distributor. Morocco has supported El Moudir with a modest number of screenings, a publicist, and a place to stay in Los Angeles (with Moroccan Ministry of Culture representative and translator Khadija Alami).
The movie is a testament to dogged creativity. El Moudir, in seeking to explode her family secrets, persuaded her builder father to help her fashion...
The movie accomplished this without a distributor. Morocco has supported El Moudir with a modest number of screenings, a publicist, and a place to stay in Los Angeles (with Moroccan Ministry of Culture representative and translator Khadija Alami).
The movie is a testament to dogged creativity. El Moudir, in seeking to explode her family secrets, persuaded her builder father to help her fashion...
- 1/23/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
‘Deserts,’ from ‘Death for Sale’ Helmer Faouzi Bensaïdi, Leads Morocco’s Presence at Atlas Workshops
Marrakech — One Moroccan highlight at this year’s Atlas Workshops has been given a special berth, as its director merits: “Deserts” from actor-helmer Faouzi Bensaidi whose films have played Berlin and Venice.
A modern take on the Western, “It will be an abstract Western, but not a Spaghetti Western. It will be more existential. Man against himself, against God and against nature and coming to terms with his own interior violence,” he told Variety when he film was still a project, closing co-production. .
Those deals are now in place with France’s Barney Productions, NiKo in Germany, Entre Chien et Loup in Belgium accompanying Mont Fleuri in Morocco. The production is locked and aiming to premiere next year.
Meanwhile, five other Moroccan titles, this time in development are hoping to get to this stage of completion with the help of the Workshops. These projects are presented in the Atlas Close-Ups section.
A modern take on the Western, “It will be an abstract Western, but not a Spaghetti Western. It will be more existential. Man against himself, against God and against nature and coming to terms with his own interior violence,” he told Variety when he film was still a project, closing co-production. .
Those deals are now in place with France’s Barney Productions, NiKo in Germany, Entre Chien et Loup in Belgium accompanying Mont Fleuri in Morocco. The production is locked and aiming to premiere next year.
Meanwhile, five other Moroccan titles, this time in development are hoping to get to this stage of completion with the help of the Workshops. These projects are presented in the Atlas Close-Ups section.
- 11/15/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Morocco has been attracting a rising number of high-profile foreign shoots since March 2022, lured by the country’s locations, skilled crews, competitive rates and its revamped cash rebate scheme, which has been hiked from 20 to 30 of eligible spend.
Of crucial importance the ceiling on the rebate available for each film has now been scrapped – offering a major boost to lengthy, large-scale productions.
Previously the maximum rebate per film was capped at 1.8 million. The total amount available per year for all projects is 10 million, granted on a first-come/first-served basis.
Other benefits available to foreign shoots include exemption from sales tax and zero fringe payments for crews.
To qualify for the rebate, productions must have a minimum Moroccan production spend of 1 million, an 18-day Moroccan shoot, at least a 25 local crew, and a local line producer.
Morocco’s previous 20 scheme was introduced in 2016 and fueled a progressive rise in foreign production visits,...
Of crucial importance the ceiling on the rebate available for each film has now been scrapped – offering a major boost to lengthy, large-scale productions.
Previously the maximum rebate per film was capped at 1.8 million. The total amount available per year for all projects is 10 million, granted on a first-come/first-served basis.
Other benefits available to foreign shoots include exemption from sales tax and zero fringe payments for crews.
To qualify for the rebate, productions must have a minimum Moroccan production spend of 1 million, an 18-day Moroccan shoot, at least a 25 local crew, and a local line producer.
Morocco’s previous 20 scheme was introduced in 2016 and fueled a progressive rise in foreign production visits,...
- 11/14/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we’ll shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week we’re speaking to Moroccan multi-hypenate Khadija Alami. The producer and founder of Morocco’s Oasis Studios talks us through how she has facilitated more than 50 international productions to shoot in the territory as well as her ambitions to grow the region’s studio space and position the country as a top destination for international productions.
With the global production boom showing no signs of letting up, leading Moroccan producer Khadija Alami is driving the charge to encourage production houses to set up camp in her North African home country.
Alami, who was the first Moroccan woman to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 2017, has been instrumental in fuelling local and international content in the country throughout the years.
With the global production boom showing no signs of letting up, leading Moroccan producer Khadija Alami is driving the charge to encourage production houses to set up camp in her North African home country.
Alami, who was the first Moroccan woman to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 2017, has been instrumental in fuelling local and international content in the country throughout the years.
- 7/13/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Liberian-Lebanese director Oualid Mouaness, whose debut feature 1982 premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival where it won the Netpac Award, is set to write and direct a feature adaptation of Saphia Azzeddine’s novel Bilqiss for the Kennedy/Marshall Company and Khadija Alami’s K Films.
The project, which focuses on a rebellious Afghan woman who decides to take her life into her own hands in the land of jihad, marks the second feature film from prominent documentary and music video director Mouaness.
Bilqiss follows a young widow who is sentenced to death by stoning for calling the neighborhood faithful to prayer while the muezzin was asleep on the job. While on trial, she transforms the courtroom into a stage where she expresses her criticisms on her country’s fundamentalism and her own interpretations of the Quran. It’s a story of a strong woman who stands out from her...
The project, which focuses on a rebellious Afghan woman who decides to take her life into her own hands in the land of jihad, marks the second feature film from prominent documentary and music video director Mouaness.
Bilqiss follows a young widow who is sentenced to death by stoning for calling the neighborhood faithful to prayer while the muezzin was asleep on the job. While on trial, she transforms the courtroom into a stage where she expresses her criticisms on her country’s fundamentalism and her own interpretations of the Quran. It’s a story of a strong woman who stands out from her...
- 7/12/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Moroccan producer Khadija Alami and Nigerian producer and Africa Intl. Film Festival founder Chioma Ude have announced a 50-50 partnership in Morocco’s Oasis Studios, a thriving production hub that they aim to use as a launching pad for the next generation of African filmmakers.
Sitting on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, the sprawling Oasis facility hosts over 12,000 square meters of built sets, a 300 square meter sound stage, studio and post-production facilities and production offices. Since opening in 2015, the studio has attracted the likes of Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind,” the U.S.-Moroccan actioner “Redemption Day,” starring Andy Garcia, and “Baghdad Central” for the U.K.’s Channel 4.
Principal photography has wrapped on the first two productions to come out of the partnership, with two more currently in development. Also underway is a writing lab and residence that’s hosting five Moroccan and six Nigerian filmmakers,...
Sitting on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, the sprawling Oasis facility hosts over 12,000 square meters of built sets, a 300 square meter sound stage, studio and post-production facilities and production offices. Since opening in 2015, the studio has attracted the likes of Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind,” the U.S.-Moroccan actioner “Redemption Day,” starring Andy Garcia, and “Baghdad Central” for the U.K.’s Channel 4.
Principal photography has wrapped on the first two productions to come out of the partnership, with two more currently in development. Also underway is a writing lab and residence that’s hosting five Moroccan and six Nigerian filmmakers,...
- 7/11/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The list of candidates for the 2020 Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors election is now out, with the winner in each branch being chosen directly from these entries rather than whittling it down to four finalists in each, as has been done previously. The list of candidates is made up of qualified AMPAS members who actually submit themselves.
Also new this year in the streamlined timetable, as Deadline exclusively reported May 16. The winners for the 17 open slots on the 54-member board will be chosen by preferential balloting, just like Best Picture race at the Oscars. Voting begins Monday and ballots are due back June 5.
The actors branch is the largest in the Academy and it also has drawn the biggest field of contenders for the one spot that is up. Incumbent governor Whoopi Goldberg is running for re-election against past governor Ed Begley Jr. vying to return to the board.
Also new this year in the streamlined timetable, as Deadline exclusively reported May 16. The winners for the 17 open slots on the 54-member board will be chosen by preferential balloting, just like Best Picture race at the Oscars. Voting begins Monday and ballots are due back June 5.
The actors branch is the largest in the Academy and it also has drawn the biggest field of contenders for the one spot that is up. Incumbent governor Whoopi Goldberg is running for re-election against past governor Ed Begley Jr. vying to return to the board.
- 5/29/2020
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Whoopi Goldberg will be facing 18 other actors who want her seat on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors, the Academy revealed to its members on Friday.
The Academy posted the list of candidates for the board from all 17 of its branches, with incumbent Actors Branch governor Goldberg going up against a slate of challengers that includes past governor Ed Begley Jr., as well as Richard Dreyfuss, James and Stacy Keach, Tim Matheson, Joe Pantoliano, Lou Diamond Phillips and Rita Wilson, whose husband, Tom Hanks, served on the board for many years.
Other branches whose contenders hit double digits included Cinematographers (12), Directors (13), Executives (12), Producers (16), Sound (10) and Visual Effects (10).
But the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch, in which incumbent Kathryn Blondell was ineligible to run again, has only a single candidate, Linda Flowers.
Also Read: Oscars Board Election Has New Rules - But Expect the Same Old Results
Blondell,...
The Academy posted the list of candidates for the board from all 17 of its branches, with incumbent Actors Branch governor Goldberg going up against a slate of challengers that includes past governor Ed Begley Jr., as well as Richard Dreyfuss, James and Stacy Keach, Tim Matheson, Joe Pantoliano, Lou Diamond Phillips and Rita Wilson, whose husband, Tom Hanks, served on the board for many years.
Other branches whose contenders hit double digits included Cinematographers (12), Directors (13), Executives (12), Producers (16), Sound (10) and Visual Effects (10).
But the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch, in which incumbent Kathryn Blondell was ineligible to run again, has only a single candidate, Linda Flowers.
Also Read: Oscars Board Election Has New Rules - But Expect the Same Old Results
Blondell,...
- 5/29/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The list of candidates for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2020-2021 Board of Governors has been unveiled to members.
Voting begins on June 1 and ends on June 5.
Candidates run for three-year terms with a maximum of three terms. Each branch has three seats on the board. Only one of those seats is open each year because terms are staggered.
The candidates were posted on the Academy members’ portal on Friday afternoon. Below is the complete list (divided by branch) of those running for spots on the board.
Actors
Michael Lee Aday
Ed Begley, Jr.
Robert Carradine
Nicolas Coster
Colman Domingo
Richard Dreyfuss
Spencer Garrett
Bruce Glover
Whoopi Goldberg (incumbent)
James Keach
Stacy Keach
Peter Wong
Jodi Long
Tim Matheson
Joe Pantoliano
Lou Diamond Phillips
Andrea Riseborough
Andrew Stevens
Rita Wilson
Casting Directors
Kerry Barden
Richard Hicks
Margery Simkin
Debra Zane
Cinematographers
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Richard P. Crudo
Svetlana Cvetko...
Voting begins on June 1 and ends on June 5.
Candidates run for three-year terms with a maximum of three terms. Each branch has three seats on the board. Only one of those seats is open each year because terms are staggered.
The candidates were posted on the Academy members’ portal on Friday afternoon. Below is the complete list (divided by branch) of those running for spots on the board.
Actors
Michael Lee Aday
Ed Begley, Jr.
Robert Carradine
Nicolas Coster
Colman Domingo
Richard Dreyfuss
Spencer Garrett
Bruce Glover
Whoopi Goldberg (incumbent)
James Keach
Stacy Keach
Peter Wong
Jodi Long
Tim Matheson
Joe Pantoliano
Lou Diamond Phillips
Andrea Riseborough
Andrew Stevens
Rita Wilson
Casting Directors
Kerry Barden
Richard Hicks
Margery Simkin
Debra Zane
Cinematographers
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Richard P. Crudo
Svetlana Cvetko...
- 5/29/2020
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Khadija Alami, CEO of K Films, is line producing and producing an increasing number of foreign shoots in Morocco, and is also hosting a rising number of shoots in her studio facility, Oasis Studios Morocco, built in 2015, located in Ouarzazate on the edge of the Sahara desert.
Oasis Studios Morocco is conceived as a mini Skywalker Ranch, a downsized version of George Lucas’ state-of-the-art facility near San Francisco, and includes 17 hectares of land, over 12,000 sq. m. of built sets, a 300 sq. m. sound stage, studio and post-production facilities and production offices, specifically targeted at foreign productions, as well as local shoots. It also hosts students from university and film schools to shoot their projects using the studio, costumes and props for free.
Alami plans to expand the studio facilities in the near future, including acquisition of a further 25 hectares of lands and space for building a new 1500 sq. m. sound stage,...
Oasis Studios Morocco is conceived as a mini Skywalker Ranch, a downsized version of George Lucas’ state-of-the-art facility near San Francisco, and includes 17 hectares of land, over 12,000 sq. m. of built sets, a 300 sq. m. sound stage, studio and post-production facilities and production offices, specifically targeted at foreign productions, as well as local shoots. It also hosts students from university and film schools to shoot their projects using the studio, costumes and props for free.
Alami plans to expand the studio facilities in the near future, including acquisition of a further 25 hectares of lands and space for building a new 1500 sq. m. sound stage,...
- 12/4/2019
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
French-Moroccan actor Kamel Labroudi to star as Tunisian street vendor who took his own life as a protest.
German production outfit DETAiLFILM and Paris-based Cinenovo are teaming with Us companies Beachside Films and Anonymous Content on Before The Spring, a drama based on the life of Mohamed Bouazizi.
Bouazizi was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire in protest of his treatment by officials; the act of defiance was one of the catalysts for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
Egyptian-British filmmaker Lotfy Nathan is making his narrative feature debut on the project. Nathan’s documentary 12 O’Clock Boys,...
German production outfit DETAiLFILM and Paris-based Cinenovo are teaming with Us companies Beachside Films and Anonymous Content on Before The Spring, a drama based on the life of Mohamed Bouazizi.
Bouazizi was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire in protest of his treatment by officials; the act of defiance was one of the catalysts for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
Egyptian-British filmmaker Lotfy Nathan is making his narrative feature debut on the project. Nathan’s documentary 12 O’Clock Boys,...
- 5/17/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Is there a hit from the past decade more widely imitated than “Homeland”? Perhaps that’s because the spy serial’s action-packed appeal seems easily replicable, even without a character as indelible as Carrie Mathison. Building relatable characters is hard, but ratcheting up tension is easy. Right?
Epix’s new series “Deep State” creates tense situations that don’t quite hit home — because, artfully directed and grimace-inducingly violent as those situations may be, they’re happening to people from whom we feel a strange remove. On “Deep State,” Mark Strong’s Max Easton is called back into the field as an MI6 agent to course-correct a failing mission in the Middle East. In so doing, he’s called away from his bucolic family life in France — including a wife who knows less than she might and who takes it upon herself to learn what her husband’s been up to.
Epix’s new series “Deep State” creates tense situations that don’t quite hit home — because, artfully directed and grimace-inducingly violent as those situations may be, they’re happening to people from whom we feel a strange remove. On “Deep State,” Mark Strong’s Max Easton is called back into the field as an MI6 agent to course-correct a failing mission in the Middle East. In so doing, he’s called away from his bucolic family life in France — including a wife who knows less than she might and who takes it upon herself to learn what her husband’s been up to.
- 6/13/2018
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes slate includes trio of classics as well as slew of new films, including pictures from Arto Halonen and Tala Hadid.
Wide Management has picked up international sales on Jean Renoir’s 1939 picture The Bitch (La Chienne), which is screening in Cannes Classics this year.
The tale of a humble clerk who falls victim to a prostitute and her violent, scheming pimp, was Renoir’s second sound film.
It recently restored by Les Films du Jeudi - the historic production company of Renoir’s late producer Pierre Braunbreger - and the Cinémathèque Francaise with the support of France’s National Cinema Centre and the DGA and WGA-backed Franco-American Cultural Fund.
“Screening in Cannes Classics gives a masterpiece like La Chienne, which is part of cinema history, a new lease of life and visibility,” said Wide Management’s founding chief, Loic Magneron. “This is a timeless classic that should be seen by new audiences.”
Wide’s slate...
Wide Management has picked up international sales on Jean Renoir’s 1939 picture The Bitch (La Chienne), which is screening in Cannes Classics this year.
The tale of a humble clerk who falls victim to a prostitute and her violent, scheming pimp, was Renoir’s second sound film.
It recently restored by Les Films du Jeudi - the historic production company of Renoir’s late producer Pierre Braunbreger - and the Cinémathèque Francaise with the support of France’s National Cinema Centre and the DGA and WGA-backed Franco-American Cultural Fund.
“Screening in Cannes Classics gives a masterpiece like La Chienne, which is part of cinema history, a new lease of life and visibility,” said Wide Management’s founding chief, Loic Magneron. “This is a timeless classic that should be seen by new audiences.”
Wide’s slate...
- 5/8/2014
- ScreenDaily
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