This glittering collage of posters, magazine covers, archive footage, jazz music, and cartoons takes you back to the art scene of 1970s Morocco, viewed from the perspective of the artists and actors themselves. Many of them were to end up in prison or disappear without a trace. The story revolves around a Moroccan independent film from 1974, "About Some Meaningless Events" by Mostafa Derkaoui, where a group of young filmmakers explored the role the new Moroccan cinema should play in society. The counterculture arose from Marxist student movements which saw cinema as an "instrument for sensitization" and self-discovery. After just a single public screening, however, "About Some Meaningless Events" was censored by the government. But the negatives of this long-lost film were rediscovered in Spain and have recently been restored. Dedicated to the victims of censorship and oppression, "Before the Dying of the Light" employs riotously edited fragments and evokes a time of excitement about the future, before it was extinguished by the repressive years under King Hassan II. Now that flame is briefly rekindled as these images are shown once again.

A film by Ali ESSAFI

France / Morocco, 2020, Documentary, 1h10mn, History / Politics

Director: Ali Essafi / إخراج :علي الصافي
Script: Ali Essafi / سيناريو : علي الصافي
Cinematography: Collectif / تصوير : عمل جماعي
Sound : Hassan Kinda / صوت : حسن كيندا
Editing: Chaghig Arzoumanian / مونتاج : شاغيك أرزومانيان

PRODUCTION:
- Laterit Productions,
- 2M,
- Les Films du Passage,
- Cinemaat Productions,

in association with
ARTE France-La lucarne

CONTACT
Email: cinemaat(@)gmail.com
Tél: + 212 6 00 59 87 51 / +33 6 70 10 43 63


2020 / 21st Tangiers National Film Festival (Morocco)
* Grand Prize (Grand prix)
www.ccm.ma/fnf21/palmaresnat9.php
www.ccm.ma/fnf21/fch.php?tab=2¶m=797
www.ccm.ma/fnf21/filmnat9.php

_________________


AR

قبل زحف الظلام

:الحوار

سبعينيات القرن في المغرب هي الفترة الأخيرة التي شاهدت صراعات وأحلام جماعية للتغيير. هذه الفترة المعروف باسم "سنوات الرصاص" هي أيضا الفترة التي عرفت أهم إنتاج فني وثقافي في تاريخ البلد. على خلفية دراما اجتماعية وسياسية، "الذاكرة 70" هو فيلم أرشيف يحيي الإبداع القوي الذي نجح جو التمرد في إطلاق عنانه. إبداع بقيت أجزاء منه قيد الرقابة أو التهميش.


Director: Ali Essafi / إخراج :علي الصافي
Script: Ali Essafi / سيناريو : علي الصافي
Cinematography: Collectif / تصوير : عمل جماعي
Sound : Hassan Kinda / صوت : حسن كيندا
Editing: Chaghig Arzoumanian / مونتاج : شاغيك أرزومانيان