CASABLANCA BEATS (2021)

Morocco and the protest rap of young people

Morocco-France. Direction: Nabil Ayouch. Production: Nabil Ayouch, Amine Benjelloun, Bruno Nahon, Alexandra Henochsberg / Ali n' Productions, Les Films du Nouveau Monde. Coproduction: Unité, Ad Vitam. Screenplay: Nabil Ayouch, Maryam Touzani. Photography: Virginie Surdej, Amine Messadi. Music: Mike Kourtzer, Fabien Kourtzer. Edition: Marie-Hélène Dozo, Yassir Hamani, Julia Grégory. Cast: Anas Basbousi, Ismail Adouab, Meriem Nekkach, Nouhaila Arif, Abdelilah Basbousi, Zined Boujemaa. Running time: 101 min.

LANGUAGE: Darija / SUBTITLES: Basque

Anas, an ex-rapper, collaborates with a cultural centre in a Casablanca slum. Motivated by their new teacher, the youngsters will try to shake off the weight of certain traditions to live their passion and express themselves through the hip hop culture, at the centre of a society bogged down by myriad threats against freedom of expression.

The French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch –Horses of God (2012), Razzia (2017)– competed at Cannes with this half-documentary, half-fiction lending their voice to the young people of Morocco.