Ahmed Bouanani (

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

, 16 November 1938 -

Demnate Demnate (; ) is a town in central Morocco, located at the foot of the high Atlas Mountains roughly 110 km east of Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Mo ...

, 6 February 2011) was a Moroccan film director, poet and novelist. He was one of the most influential filmmakers in Morocco and is considered to be one of the country's pioneers. His film ''The Mirage'' is often considered to be one of the greatest achievements in Moroccan film history, being selected as one of the 100 best and most important films in North Africa and the Middle East by the 10th

Dubai International Film Festival The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF, ) was the largest film festival in the Arab world, Arab region. With particular emphasis on showcasing Arab cinema, Arab, Asian cinema, Asian, and African cinema, it also helped to develop industry a ...

in 2013.

Career

Bouanani's films include poetic documentaries such as ''Six et Douze'' (1968) and ''Mémoire 14'' (1971) as well as short fictions such as ''Tarfaya: La Marche d'un Poète'' (1966) and ''Les Quatres Sources'' (1974). While ''The Mirage'' (1979) was Bouanani's last film due to the political constraints he faced during Morocco's ''years of lead'', he continued to write screenplays including ''Bye-Bye Souirty'' (1998) which he also edited and ''The Wind Horse'' (2001), both directed by Daoud Aoulad Syad. Ahmed Bouanani also continued contributing to Moroccan films including as an actor and artistic director in Farida Benlyazid's feature film ''A Door to the Sky'' (1989). Bouanani's films are often understood within a larger movement for cultural decolonization in Morocco and his desire to ground Moroccan filmmaking in the country's oral heritage and popular memory. Aside from his films which are often constructed as oral poems or folktales, Bouanani has written on the subject of oral heritage such as in articles like ''Introduction à la poésie populaire marocaine''. In addition to filmmaking, Bouanani wrote three collections of poetry including ''The Shutters'' (1980) and one novel, ''The Hospital'' (1989), both translated into English. His unpublished history of Moroccan cinema, ''The Seventh Gate: A History of Cinema in Morocco from 1907 to 1986'' was posthumously published in 2020 by his daughter Touda Bouanani and Moroccan poet Omar Berrada. Bouanani was also a regular writer in the avant-garde Moroccan cultural journal ''Souffles'' (1966-1973) in which he contributed with both essays and poetry. In 1983, he also made a comic strip for the newspaper Al Maghrib.

Legacy

Today Ahmed Bouanani's daughter Touda Bouanani is also a filmmaker, and the keeper of the family archives. Ahmed Bouanani's legacy, in addition to that of his wife, artistic director and costume designer, Naima Saoudi and daughter Batoul Bouanani, are managed by the Archives Bouanani collective, headed by his daughter Touda Bouanani.

Bibliography

* ''The Hospital'' (''L'hôpital'', novel) * ''The Shutters'' (''Persiennes'', poetry)

Filmography

Feature films

* 1979: ''The Mirage''

Short films

*1968 : ''6 et 12'' Institut du monde arabe, 2010 *1971 : ''Mémoire 14'' ''La Vie éco'', 2011 *1974 : ''Les Quatre Sources'' La Triennalle 2012 *1966 ː ''La Marche d’un poète''

References

{{Morocco-film-director-stub 1938 births 2011 deaths Moroccan film directors Moroccan comics artists Moroccan novelists People from Casablanca 20th-century Moroccan poets 20th-century Moroccan writers Institut des hautes études cinématographiques alumni