Beyond Casablanca: M. A. Tazi and the Adventure of Moroccan Cinema

In Beyond Casablanca, Kevin Dwyer explores the problems of creativity in
the Arab and African world, focusing on Moroccan cinema and one of its key figures,
filmmaker M. A. Tazi. Dwyer develops three themes simultaneously: the filmmaker's
career and films; filmmaking in postcolonial Morocco; and the relationship between
Moroccan cinema, Third World and Arab cinema, and the global film industry. This
compelling discussion of Moroccan cinema is founded upon decades of anthropological
research in Morocco, most recently on the Moroccan film sector and the global film
industry, and exhibits a sensitivity to the cultural, political, social, and
economic context of creative activity. The book centers on a series of interviews
conducted with Tazi, whose career provides a rich commentary on the world of
Moroccan cinema and on Moroccan cinema in the world. The interviews are framed,
variously, by presentations of Moroccan history, society, and culture; the role of
foreign filmmakers in Morocco; thematic discussions of cinematic issues (such as
narrative techniques, the use of symbols, film as an expression of identity, and
problems of censorship); and the global context of Third World filmmaking.