DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Little Creations (2007)
Portrait of Khmissa: Part One
Layla Triqui, a young Moroccan filmmaker waits for her firstborn child to be born as Ikhlas, a little girl in the same city grows up under the roof of her aunt Rajaa, who is preparing to leave her family and travel outside the country for work.
Little creations are what these two separate households share in common, both the everyday creations of family and home that in turn inspire the public ones such as film.
This short visual project was motivated by the question, "Why do we create and for whom?"
Sucar & Melha (Sugar and Salt)
Portrait of Khmissa: Part Two (2007)
Farida Benlyazid is the first Moroccan woman to have pioneered into directing a feature film entitled "Door to the Sky", just as we observe that same night during Ramadan when the door to the sky is believed to be open.
The title is in tribute to the North African Muslim and Jewish traditions alive in daily life, both obvious and invisible that are the ingredients for this place that is Morocco.
Shown at the "Humanity Explored" film festival hosted by Culture Unplugged 2011.
Portrait of Khmissa
(2007) Parts 1 - 4
Little Creations, Sucar & Melha, Water, Bread
Documentary Series, Irene Production
The short series looks that the creations of four Moroccan women in cinema (Layla Triqui, Fatema Loukili, Farida Benlyazid, Izza Genini) as well as the unknown women who make the daily quiet inventions of daily life.
Named after khmissa, which is the number five in Hebrew and Arabic, it symbolizes both the feminine hand of creation and the hand of unity and protection. This short series was a youthful exploration of possibility.
Shown at the 2007 Film Forum organized by the Casablanca US Consulate, it was later projected at CasaProjecta in 2008 in Casablanca, Morocco. It was selected for screening at the 2009-2010 VIII Muestra de Cine Documental y Social La imagen del Sur in Spain (8th Social Documentary Film Festival) and featured in the Greek Gruppofl Festival in October 2010. It was then featured in the "Humanity Explored" film festival hosted by Culture Unplugged 2011.
Water.
(2007)
Portrait of Khmissa: Part Three
In Casablanca, Fatima, the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father speaks about her mother and father.
In New York, Izza Genini the first Moroccan woman to make a documentary speaks about being Jewish, and the movements of identity and love that sometimes can mirror the fluidity of water.
Bread
(2007)
Portrait of Khmissa: Part Four
A rural family near Taza wakes to do the chores to break the Ramadan fast as Fatema Loukili (the first female journalist on TV, an actress, and writer) speaks about the life and death of her mother. A mom who couldn't understand the classical Arabic that Fatema spoke on national television but was proud of her and whose life inspired Fatema's life work and national success.
One woman's public life in the news media stands next to the private lives led by rural women like her mother's inside a kitchen making life and bread and inspiring a thousand stories.
All I Wanna Do (2010)
Feature Documentary
A Teapot Production, Morocco
The summer prior to the heat of the Arab Spring, 48-year-old Simohamed works one of the humblest jobs in the city--- a car guard for a wealthy neighborhood in Casablanca. He had dreams in his youth but with a family to feed, they are far away in his past.
His 17-year-old son Ayoub has lots of big dreams of going to Hollywood one day and feels close to achieving his goal as he once worked in the Hollywood hit 'Charlie Wilson's War'.
When Ayoub's dreams of going to Hollywood are dashed he turns to music. To comfort and get closer to his son, his dad starts to rap with him.
Like fish out of water, the duo set out to meet their heroes, enter studios and radio stations for the first time in an adventure through the music industry of Casablanca, and perhaps, to achieve the ultimate dream of feeling valued in a city run by wealth and a region with harsh class divides.
Liquid Gold
(2012)
A commissioned documentary for Siemens Global Website.
A rural Amazigh village near Essouria finds a way to improve their lives, develop a sustainable business and find some independence with a bit of newly installed electricity.
“Liquid Gold” highlights the life-changing introduction of electricity to their Argan oil business and the spark of education.
Style Booa
Music Clip
A TeapotProduction
Style Booa (Chameleon Camouflage) featuring Hoofer from the rap group Bizz2Risk and Khalid from the band Haoussa. The clip is a tongue-in-cheek parody of societal hypocrisy.
Shown on national television and the leading Moroccan channel 2M.
Lyrics by Hoofer of Bizz2Risk and Khalid of Haoussa
with DJ Karim
Camera by Barbara Teslar
Costumes by Noemie Perray
Edit by Julien Foure
The Secret Lives of Flowers
IN PRODUCTION
Four teenage girls come of age in a time of global instability. The world confronts them and their hopes and dreams in a new world post the Arab Spring.