North African Filmmakers Lead Africa’s Representation at This Year’s Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Premiere

The Cannes Premiere section presents Everybody Loves Touda by Moroccan director and screenwriter Nabil Ayouch. With six previous film entries under his belt, Ayouch is a regular at Cannes. His drama Casablanca Beats, about a group of young hip-hop artists aspiring to put on a concert, was the first film by a Moroccan director to participate in the festival’s main competition for the Palme d’Or in 2021.

Filled with singing and dancing, Everybody Loves Touda narrates the journey of a Sheikha, a traditional poetess and singer from a small Moroccan village, and the challenges that come her way as she plans to leave for the lights of Casablanca, seeking a better future for herself and her deaf and mute son. The film’s themes revolve around the passion for art, the struggles of a single mother with a special needs child and her aspirations in a conservative society.

Critics’ Week

This year’s edition of the Critics’ Week, a parallel selection dedicated to first and second films, organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, will screen 11 titles, including one from Egypt and two by directors of North African descent. Representing Morocco is La Mer Au Loin (French for Across the Sea), a drama by Moroccan French film producer and director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi.

Inspired by Algerian Raï music, the plot of La Mer Au Loin follows Nour, a 27-year old man who illegally migrates to Marseille. There, he makes a living as a small-time dealer, leading an unconventional, festive life. Meeting the unpredictable, charismatic cop Serge and his wife Noémie turns his life upside down. From 1990 to 2000, Nour loves, matures, and clings to his dreams.

With the documentary The Brink of Dreams, by Egyptian director and producer Nada Riyadh and Egyptian producer and script-consultant Ayman El Amir, Egypt is also represented in the Critics’ Week section. The documentary unfolds in Al-Barsha village, in Egypt’s Minya governorate, and follows a group of Coptic village girls who form a theater troupe. Their plays, rooted in Upper Egyptian folklore, address issues like early marriage, domestic violence and the education of girls.

Capturing the real-life journeys of its protagonists, the film revolves around three protagonists: Magda, who aspires to study theater in Cairo; Heidi, who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer; and Monica, who hopes to be a renowned singer.

Director’s Fortnight

The second Egyptian film selected for this year’s edition, East of Noon by artist and film director Hala Elkoussy,will be screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Blending satirical fantasy with dark comedy, this fable depicts a timeless world in which Abdo, a young musician seeking freedom through his art, challenges an oppressive ruler using his talent and the fairy tales told by an elderly woman.

Rayane Mcirdi’s short film After the Sun is set to hold its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Set during a summer in the late 1980s, the film takes viewers on a nostalgic road trip from Paris to Algeria. The storyline follows a young girl who endeavors to reignite the bonds with her heritage, delving into a homeland she has never before visited.

Cinéma de la Plage

Days of Glory, directed by French Rachid Bouchareb (of Algerian descent), will screen in the Cinéma de la Plage section which includes classics films, commemorations and world premieres of new productions. Set in North Africa in 1943, the film chronicles the contribution of North African soldiers to the Free French Forces during the Second World War and highlights the discrimination against them. It was originally released in 2006 and entered into the main competition for the Palme d'or, with the ensemble of actors all receiving the award for Best Actor. The release of Days of Glory contributed to a partial recognition of the pension rights of soldiers from former French possessions by the French government.

Cannes Classics

Last but not least, the Cannes Classics section, which includes celebrations, restored prints and documentaries to preserve cinematic history, presents Camp de Thiaroye, which is a co-production between Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria. Written and directed by Senegalese filmmakers Ousmane Sembene and Thierno Faty Sow, this film from 1988 documents the events leading up to the Thiaroye Massacre during which French soldiers committed atrocities against West African soldiers.

The film, which was banned in France for a decade and censored in Senegal, was restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the Cineteca di Bologna at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with the Tunisian Ministry of Culture and the Senegalese Ministry of Culture and Historical Heritage.