Tarfaya Aw Masseerat Sha'er

Tarfaya ou La marche d'un poète

Forum 2017

In the decades after it was founded in 1944, the Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM) produced newsreels for screening in theatres before the main feature. Mohamed Afifi, Ahmed Bouanani, Abdelmajid R’chich and Mohamed Abderrahman Tazi were filmmakers working at the CCM after the country gained independence for whom film was an art form. Afifi was the oldest, while Bouanani, R’chich and Tazi knew each other from their student days at the IDHEC (Institut des hautes études cinématographiques) in Paris. Afifi was the first to dare to subvert a newsreel commission to create an auteurist meditation. Visually captivating, Men Lahm wa Salb (1959) films a day in the life of the Casablanca port, without dialogue or voiceover, with the images flowing to the rhythm of music, while Sitta wa Thaniat 'Ashar (1968) is a study of the Casablanca light between the hours 6 and 12. Al-'Awdah li Agadir (1967) films the reconstruction of Agadir after the earthquake that almost destroyed the entire city and is akin to a modernist constructivist moving image tableau. Bouanani’s first short Tarfaya Aw Masseerat Sha'er (1966) is adapted from a 15th century poem by a legendary Moroccan bard.

by Ahmed Bouanani
with Ahmed Maji, Abdeslam Sefrioul Morocco 1966 French 20’ Black/White Documentary form

With

Ahmed Maji
Abdeslam Sefrioul

Crew

Director	Ahmed Bouanani
Cinematography	Mohamed Abderrahaman Tazi
Editing	Ahmed Bouanani
Sound	Majid Rechiche
Music	M'barak Chergaul

Produced by

Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM)

Additional information

Download additional information

Ahmed Bouanani

Born in 1938 in Casablanca, Morocco. He studied Film at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in Paris. In addition to directing his own films, Bouanani also worked as an editor and screenwriter for other Moroccan directors. He was also a writer and published several volumes of poetry. Ahmed Bouanani died in 2011 in Demnate, Morocco.

Filmography (selection)

1966 Tarfaya Aw Masseerat Sha'er / Tarfaya ou La marche d’un poète; 20 min. 1968 Sitta wa Thaniat 'Ashar / Six et douze; 18 min. 1971 Thakirah Arba'at 'Ashar / Mémoire 14; 24 min. 1977 Al-Manabe' al-Arba'a / Les quatre sources; 35 min. 1980 Al-Sarab / Le Mirage (The Mirage); 100 min. 1981 Carte de visite; 30 min. 1982 Casablanca, bilan et perspectives; 50 min. · Sidi Kacem ou le rameau d’Olivier; 11 min. 1984 L’Enfant, la torture et l’ordinateur; 15 min. · Complexe sportif Mohammed V de Casablanca; 22 min. 1991 Raconte-moi Meknès; 16 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017