Stories

Jimia Boutouba gave a talk at an international symposium in Morocco, entitled Moroccan cinema uncut: local perspectives, transnational dialogues. Part of a three-year international collaborative project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), this symposium is organized by the University of Exeter (UK) in association with École Supérieure des Arts Visuels (Marrakesh), the London Film School, Goucher College (USA), the Marrakesh International Film Festival (Morocco) and the Africa in Motion Film Festival (Edinburgh, UK). In keeping with the aims of the project, it brought together academics, cinema professionals, policy-makers, and critics. It also ran in conjunction with the International Film Festival in Marrakesh (2-10 December 2016).

Jimia’s paper, entitled From Social Performativity to Comic Performance: The Emergence of New Gender Scripts, examines the way Moroccan women filmmakers use the subversive power of comedy to challenge gender hierarchies, and revisit the complex relationship between masculinity and performance, highlighting the socio-cultural norms that have shaped and affected the performance of masculinity in Arabo-Muslim contexts.

Jimia also chaired a panel on the circulation of women’s films and their distribution circuits in Morocco, France and the EU at large, exploring the strategies women filmmakers have developed to give visibility to their films.

She also attended an industry round-table that brought together several Moroccan film producers and filmmakers who debated the changing production-distribution structures and the emergence of new economic challenges questioning the viability of the economic model in Morocco.

Ahmed el Maanouni, Khalid Zairi, Zakia Tahiri, Lamia Chraibi and Jamal Souissi

She also attended several screenings at the Marrakesh International Film Festival. A key cinema event in Morocco and on the international stage, the festival brings together important figures from the world of the arts, culture and media. Through the years, the festival has attracted some of the most famous names in cinema from around the world.

Last but not least, Jimia met and interviewed two of the most influential women filmmakers in Morocco: Farida Benlyazid and Zakia Tahiri.

Farida Benlyazid (left), Zakia Tahiri (right)