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«The wonder box» is an old saying in Morocco and it could be used in several contexts. The saying had even inspired Moroccan novelist Ahmed Sefrioui, who used it as a title for his autobiographical novel in 1954.
In 2021, the same saying is linked to the project launched by Marouane Bahar and two of his friends, which promises cinematographic «wonders» thanks to a high performance film projection device. Technically, this «box» is designed as a screen capable of guaranteeing a projection quality equal-to-or-better than that of conventional cinemas.
In other words, it is a mobile cinema project, which organizes from March 2022 a traveling program from the villages of the Rif to the farthest regions south of Morocco. Around fifty films and 120 screenings will be planned and in the meantime, the project team has carried out a few tests to put their all-terrain «Cinema Caravan» to the test on the most difficult roads.
How was the idea for the project evolved ?
The idea was born about twelve years ago, during my participation in a film festival in South Africa. As part of a workshop, we reflected on the future of cinemas in our continent. The initial initiative was to organize a caravan in the form of a mobile cinema project, traveling throughout Africa. Far from not having succeeded for budget reasons, the idea was gradually abandoned due to the many conflicts affecting the continent, in addition to the great challenge of training all the teams for such a project.
Things stayed that way until our return to Morocco. During the lockdown in 2020, we rethought this concept, especially since this form of cinema room can operate in times of pandemic and it complies 100% with health and social distancing measures. The idea then came to relaunch the project, with a franchising vehicle that allows you to travel throughout and all over Morocco.
Have you already identified the 80 villages that the mobile cinema will visit ?
This will be done in three tours, each will last three months. The first 80 villages are located in the valleys of Ourika, Tichka and Al Haouz. In the three areas, we spotted more than 80 villages but we opted for this reduced number. For now, we are operating with our own funds. We gathered nearly 90% of the logistics and technical budget for the first tour.
For the next one, we are still looking for funding. Our concept is that the sponsors can offer screenings for the population. We were able to have a promise of financial support from the Cinecittà Foundation in Italy, since the caravan will start there. It will also help us with films by providing us with the archive of its film library and for the moment, we are in the process of developing the programming.
On the Moroccan side, we proposed to the Ministry of Culture and the Moroccan Cinematographic Center (CCM) to contribute to the project. Ultimately, our goal is to have an exploitation number, like any recognized cinema hall, in order to distribute films directly.
What kinds of films will you be screening ?
We want to do a program of various genres, with films from various countries. An important space will be given to Moroccan cinema, because films have been produced but it has been almost two years since they have been widely distributed. Priority will be given to them to give them visibility.
We also have arthouse films from all over the world and a lot of documentaries too, from all countries. The idea will be to adapt the programming to each village, in order to inspire populations, educate young people and open their eyes to various horizons to discover something else.
We are also negotiating a collaboration with the Ministry of Health. We propose to produce awareness capsules against Covid-19, to screen them with the films in the villages where the caravan will stop.
Did you organize yourself within a structure for the launch of the caravan ?
I do not belong to a Moroccan association, but this project is sponsored in Morocco by the Moroccan Digital Film Agency, an association governed by Moroccan law which collaborates with us. Within the organization team, two active members were previously part of the Yves-Saint Laurent Museum team.
You have been carrying this project for 12 years and you want it to see the light, despite the all odds. Is there a personal story behind your determination ?
I am first and foremost a film professional, it's my job. I am a director and director of photography, laureate of the Specialized Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual (ISCA) in Rabat and of the National School of Audiovisual (ESAV) of Marrakech. Like many of my colleagues, I am concerned about the loss of the cinema market. Films have been shot despite the health crisis, but we do not have a screening and distribution space for the moment and this is what has further accentuated the crisis.
Before that, I created and set up the Yves-Saint Laurent cinema room in Marrakech. This is one of the flagship projects I have worked on in Morocco in recent years. It hurts to see afterwards that the project had to close. I even fear a final shutdown, because it did not have time to amortize its costs after the opening in 2017.
It hurt me a lot and I said to myself that this was the opportunity to create an open access caravan project. Moreover, this room provided for screenings that were 100% free and accessible to everyone, with a new program every week, as was the will of Yves-Saint Laurent before its death, then of Pierre Bergé who had mandated me to establish the room.
Currently, I work in Italy with the City of Venice with museums, for the creation of audiovisual installations. I am also working with the Embassy of Greece here on the creation of virtual museums and I am still keen on creating a cinema project for Morocco.
