Moroccan director Saad al Sharaibi has begun scripting the first narrative film about political prisoners in Morocco.
“The film won’t be documentary but rather a fantasy story based on the status quo. It will tackle the phenomenon from its both sides, the victims plight and suffering by their families,” Sharaibi told the London based Arabic daily al Sharq al Awsat.
Similar to what he did in his previous film Nisaa Wa Nisaa (Women and Women), Sharaibi adopted the poll technology to gather information by filling questionnaires on the victims and their families either through direct meetings or through the Moroccan forum for Fact and Justice and the coordinating committee of the missing people. He also depended on testimonies published by previous prisoners who were jailed for many years.
“I do not have any personal experience in imprisonment but the circumstances of easing off which Morocco witnesses nowadays and the lifting up of the ban on the files of human rights made the information available. So far, 15 books have been published about previous prisoners including the book entitled Ideas, Testimonies and Correspondence. With the availability of the original content, it was natural for the cinema to follow the steps of other sectors,” said Sharaibi.
He added, “the idea of producing a film on political imprisonment in Morocco came to my mind two years ago but because I was busy in wrapping up and releasing my latest film Atash (Thirst) and the problems faced in promoting it in Morocco delayed the project.” – Albawaba.com
