International Conference in Fez Discusses Transformations of Moroccan Cinema and Its Aesthetic and Critical Challenges
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Dhar Mahraz, part of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez, is hosting an international conference titled “Moroccan Cinema: Structures of the Present and Challenges of the Future.” Organized by the Laboratory of Social, Cultural, and Philosophical Studies in partnership with the Moroccan Society of Film Critics, the event will take place from the 18th to the 20th of this month.
This conference will feature participation from a select group of researchers, critics, experts, and university professors from both Morocco and abroad, who will lead nine scientific sessions to discuss various transformations occurring in Moroccan cinema, particularly in light of the quantitative and qualitative developments in national film production in recent years.
The importance of this scientific meeting lies in its response to an urgent need to reflect on the state of Moroccan cinema and the structural transformations it is undergoing in scriptwriting, directing, and cinematography, changes that are increasingly compelling critics and researchers in the field of cinema.
Recently, Moroccan cinema has witnessed a notable ontological shift, allowing it to occupy a distinguished position at international festivals, thanks to the aesthetic leap that characterized several cinematic works and its ability to construct a new visual horizon that opens up to daily realities, individual narratives, and collective tragedies, paving the way for a different cinematic discourse that liberates creative imagination and delves deeply into society without prior constraints.
In this context, the conference aims to highlight the pivotal role of film criticism in keeping pace with these aesthetic and intellectual transformations, emphasizing the necessity of developing a critical project capable of addressing the specificities of Moroccan films, especially in light of the decline of specialized criticism and the rise of disorganized writing that lacks the methodological foundations of film criticism.
Thus, the conference not only addresses the current challenges facing Moroccan cinema and its future prospects but also opens a profound discussion about the relevance and value of film criticism in analyzing what is produced on the big screen within Morocco, with the aim of restoring its cultural and intellectual significance.
