The global premieres of two Moroccan films, “Deserts” and “Les Meutes,” were received with standing ovations at the 76th edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
The fifth feature film by the great Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaidi, “Deserts” was shown on May 18 at Theatre Croisette as part of the “Quinzaine des Cinéastes” section of the festival’s program.
At the end of the screening, the film crew, which included director and actors Fehd Benchemsi, Abdelhadi Taleb, and Nezha Rahil, received warm congratulations from the audience.
Kamal Lazraq’s first feature film, “Les Meutes” is part of the “Un Certain Regard” competition and was screened on May 19 in the theater Claude Debussy.
The filmmaker was moved to deliver a preview of his first feature film, surrounded by his two main actors, Ayoub Elaid and Abdellatif Masstouri.
Bensaidi’s film, starring the talented Fahd Benchemsi, tells the story of Mehdi and Hamid, two lifelong friends who will go on a work trip to the Moroccan South.
“Deserts” is a modern Western, in which different chapters make the values, traditions, and humanity of the old clash with the brutality of the new.
As the story unraveled, the characters and stories become entangled.
“With Deserts, I want one story and its staging to gradually give way to another, leaving plenty of room for the viewer’s imagination. The burlesque can be tinged with film noir, the social with suspense, and the real, welcoming abstraction, which can open onto the cosmic,” said the director in a press release sent to Hespress EN by the production company.
The plot of “Les Meutes” by Kamal Lazraq is set in the working-class Casablanca suburbs, where Hassan and Issam, a father and son, make a living by conducting small business for the local underworld. They are asked to abduct a man one evening, which announces the beginning of their adventure in Casablanca’s hidden underworld.
The director described the movie as “a nocturnal journey into an underworld populated by strange characters. A stifling, tense journey through the margins of the city of Casablanca.”
The two films are Mont Fleuri Productions, coming from a company based in Casablanca, founded in 2013 by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi, with the aim of producing independent auteur films and accompanying foreign filmmakers on their shoots in Morocco.
The company has collaborated with filmmakers such as Philippe Faucon, Meryem Ben’Mbarek (SOFIA), and Yasmine Benkiran.
Mont Fleuri is now developing a feature film called “LA MAS DULCE”, by the director behind “Rock The Kasbah” and “Marock”, Leila Marrakchi.
This year, Moroccan cinema is being praised at Cannes with a pavilion devoted to the country, numerous films competing, and the presence of notable figures like Moroccan director Narjiss Nejjar and director of the Moroccan Cinematography Center (CCM) Abdelaziz El Bouzdaini, as well as renowned film distributor Mohamed Khouna to support the up-and-coming filmmakers and established directors.
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