Cinema
الابن العاق
Mohamed Ousfour · 1958
Synopsis
According to the file of the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre, a boy receives from childhood, through his parents' negligence, his first lessons in delinquency; having become a dangerous criminal, he aims only at money, and his misdeeds lead him towards crime. The film, fifty minutes long and in black and white, is presented, according to Jeune Afrique, as a series of sketches put end to end, shot without live sound and commented on by the filmmaker's voice-over; the performers, Mohamed El Gnous and Zaki Boukhriss, were not professionals.
Context
The film was shot in 1958, according to Jeune Afrique, and has since been regarded as the first Moroccan feature film: its fiftieth anniversary was celebrated at the Marrakech Festival in 2008, with a tribute to Larbi Yacoubi, the last survivor of the crew. Its author wrote the screenplay and handled the photography, sound, music and editing, under his own company, Ousfour Film. Mohamed El Bouayadi, who dates it to 1956, sees it as one of the films through which this filmmaker moved from the attractions show to narrative, in the wake of independence.
Who it is for
A short film, without direct sound, in which the director himself comments on what the image shows; it can be seen in retrospectives of Moroccan cinema.
Prizes and reception
Seen as the starting point of Moroccan feature filmmaking, and celebrated for its fiftieth anniversary in Marrakech in 2008.
Sources for this page 7
The pages consulted to check this page.