20TH edition NOVEMBER 24 TO DECEMBER 2, 2023
20th edition
November 24 to December 2, 2023
Mauritanian filmmaker Sidney Sokhona was born in 1952 and arrived in Paris at the age of fourteen. Having come to France to study, he found himself obliged to work, and took evening classes. At the University of Vincennes, he became interested in cinema, and began working as a volunteer assistant with Jean Rouch on Little by Little (1970), then with Med Hondo on Les Bicots-nègres, vos voisins (1974). Sokhona’s first feature film, Nationality: Immigrant (1976), was shot between 1972 and 1975. He went on to make Safrana ou le droit à la parole (1977) before returning to Mauritania. He then gave up cinema to become involved in politics.
A manifesto shot between 1972 and 1975, Sidney Sokhona’s first film is the story of a struggle, that of immigrant workers in France. Mixing fiction and documentary, the Mauritanian director retraces his own difficult journey as he arrives in Paris, where he faces racism and exploitation, an experience that culminates in political awakening and a collective revolt at the Rue Riquet hostel. For the first time, the struggles of immigrants are filmed from the inside. Sokhona takes to cinema to denounce their situation, render the complexity of their lives and, in the process, deconstruct the paternalism of some far-left militants.
Director Sidney Sokhona
Producer Sidney Sokhona
Screenwriter Sidney Sokhona
Cinematographer Étienne Degramont, Frédéric Variot, Alain Leroy, Daniel Canfrère
Production Designer Moussa N’Dongo
Art Director
Editor Danièle Tessier
Sound Jean-Pierre Laforce, Alain Cointro
Music Moussa N’Dongo
Color Color
Production Company SERDDAV, Comité du film ethnographique, GREC
International Sales Company Talitha
Founded by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in July 2002, the Marrakech International Film Festival Foundation is a non-profit organization of public interest.
Presided over by His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, the Foundation has as its primary objective the organisation of the Marrakech International Film Festival and any related events, all of which aim to encourage the creation, promotion, and distribution of works of cinema throughout the Kingdom of Morocco and around the globe.
Founded by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in July 2002, the Marrakech International Film Festival Foundation is a non-profit organization of public interest.
Presided over by His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, the Foundation has as its primary objective the organisation of the Marrakech International Film Festival and any related events, all of which aim to encourage the creation, promotion, and distribution of works of cinema throughout the Kingdom of Morocco and around the globe.