Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication, El-Mahdi Bensaid, reveals an ambitious plan to open over 150 cinema halls across Morocco by end of the current year (2022), in an interview with the local broadcasting channel, “Medi1 TV.”
Mahdi Bensaid stated that the ministry is committed to supporting author’s cinema and popular film, and to building “ a culture of film,” collaborating with the ministries responsible for pre-university education and higher education, to ensure “a strong sense of cinema in the education field, even among children.”
According to the minister, he rejects the term “support” and prefers to use the term “investment” in cinema, theatre, and the press. This is due to the fact that what is offered to these sectors is a “market for the purpose of investing.”
“The exceptional assistance during the first year of the pandemic was social assistance, and when COVID-19 arrived the ministry saw vital sectors die before our eyes, like culture and tourism, so the assistance was to keep them alive,” he explained.
With respect to the “Theater Moves” initiative, Bensaid said, “the ministry’s strategy stems from the fact that we are living in a critical and health stage, with which it is difficult in light of limited access to solve theater problems,” then added that “there is television, through which the concept of culture can be built, and the relationship of citizens is restored.”
Moroccan Film Center is administratively unstable, the Minister of Culture remarked, adding “the problem of cinema is not only related to the center, but we have made it the center of the field, while it is a tool to motivate directors and promote their work.”
Bensaid referred to a change that should affect the concept of the center, including filming licenses, dealing with directors and committees, especially those involving foreign films. He also expressed concern over deciding whether Moroccan films will be supported based on the scripts alone.
In reference to the relationship between youth arts, such as “rap,” the minister stated that it was the role of the government to support the arts, not to judge or limit them.
Additionally, the Culture Minister announced further plans in establishing a dedicated institution to provide full social coverage for artists and take care of their housing and family conditions to help overcome the emerging problems that “affect the artist’s dignity” every now and then.
As a result of the recurring problems of the difficult situation of artistic, television, and musical symbols, the culture minister responded that “the artist’s card is suitable for social protection, and the problem is that artists located throughout the Kingdom find it difficult to request it, so the procedure will be digitized to ease the process.”
In coordination with officials, he continued: “I am looking for popular artists in his region who are known on a national level more than they are in their own area, and we are working on preparing artist cards so that they will be covered by health insurance.” Additionally, the minister announced that an institution will be set up to provide assistance to artists with social problems, providing a 100% social coverage as a means of “preserving artists’ dignity and not living as we see today.”
Regarding the maintenance of the “material and immaterial elements of Moroccan culture,” Mehdi Bensaid replied that “UNESCO law does not allow countries to submit more than one application for registration of manifestations of this heritage each year,” stating, “We present each year a component of the Moroccan components to the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”
The Culture Minister summarized by saying “We are proud of our history and heritage, and we will do everything to defend it.”
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