FEZ SUMMER '55
Genre
Drama, Historical and Coming-of-age
Running time
114 minutes
Year
2023
Language
Arabic and French
Subtitle
English
Country
Morocco
Director
Abdelhai Laraki
Bio
Producer
Caroline Locardi
Cast
Oumaïma Barid, Mohammed Atef, Ayman Driwi, Mounia Lamkimel, Mohamed Naïman, Majida Benkirane, Nabil Atif, Lalla Hachoum, Tarik Bakhari, Chaïbia Adraoui
Scriptwriter
Abdelhai Laraki
In the summer of 1955 – a few months before Morocco will achieve independence - 11-year-old Kamal is living in the Medina of Fez. Together with Aïcha and her fellow students from Qaraouiyine University, he discovers and joins in the fight for freedom. It is thus Kamal’s coming-of-age story, but also a vivid, passionate account of the rebirth of a nation, with its own culture and fierce dignity. Laraki was inspired by the memories of Moroccan resistance fighters who were part of the painful but essential struggle against colonialism, describing extraordinary acts of patriotism, the fight for women’s rights and the quest for freedom. At the same time, he describes his personal search for emancipation from the weight of his own past.
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