Ouarzazate.. Hollywood, African cinema - Morocco
Completely quietly, you look away in those desert spaces saturated with the smell of history and legend. The flaming mirage sparkles as a valley of fresh water coming from a remote source. Here, while standing in front of those powerful terrain, you conjure a shot from the clips of the movie "Western" in those distant bushes, where there is neither water nor Spring except for reptiles that dominate the place in all the shady corners, and eagles spread their wings in the high places in search of a carcass or a lost prey. Heaven, over there on the hill overlooking the city.
Completely quietly, you can almost also see with your own eyes a beautiful terrain that damages the place from the qiblah, where the winter snows cover the green oases, and you also see as far as the eye goes to the south, vast areas of arid desert and rugged reefs. And human qualifications are abundant for making history, war, and combating terrorism and horror films, and others that mimic the myths of science fiction, resurrection, heaven and hell.
The mirage that danced like a snake is still aflame in the eyes, and the heat that emanates from those fjords makes the city of Ouarzazate the "Hollywood of cinema on the African continent", it is unquestionably the wonderful legendary cinema.
Here, you can almost hear the hooves of the horses that participated in the tragic wars fought between the Roman kings and their emperors, and here you can almost hear the roar of the tigers that went out to the warrior in the movie "The Warrior" (Gladiator) starring the brilliant New Zealand actor Russell Core, where the brave fought that predator and killed him. In the image of her a lot of wonderful heroic glory.
Here, the American director Ridley Scone was impressed, and the director of the movie "Alexander the Great" Oliver Stone, and his hero Colin Farroll and Angela Jolie fell in love with these spaces, as Alexander controlled the lands of Greece with the grip of the great Greek kings, crossing the prairies, wild forests and the sea before he was killed under the feet of an elephant Huge, in a scene with a lot of impressive and charming bloody colors.
Ouarzazate .. the focus of attention of filmmakers and tourists
Here the visitor feels the great aesthetic and artistic value of King Solomon's throne. Here she visits the house of Youssef Al-Siddiq, rides the "Warrior" chariot (the gladiator) and coexists with the radiances of the kingdom of the jinn by Ridley Scott, the hues of Salah El-Din's tape and Jerusalem, and the international actress Nicole Kidman, who rode the ship of the desert in a picture of her lavish princely vanity. In the movie "Queen of the Desert" here is still the movie Noah's Ark, the figures and idols of the gods in ancient Egypt built by the pharaohs, and many of the accessories that made their heroes stars in the sky of cinema.
Here is Ouarzazate, which hosts the largest and most famous natural studios in the world, and attracts the most famous film directors in the world to film their works, which have met with great success and won valuable prizes.
Ouarzazate met in it what did not meet in other global metropolises, where heritage, magic, cinema, history, nature and calm met. Not only for filmmakers, but for tourists from all over the world, who visit it all year round to discover the magic of nature, as well as to visit the city and its natural and touristic qualifications, and from there to the cities of Zagora and then M'Hamid El Ghazlan, where lovers of sand dunes and clear nights deep in the desert, Riding mountains, motorbikes, sports cars, etc., they find in that a pleasure that is not equal to pleasure.
Perhaps many scholars of cinematic history in the region would agree that the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” directed by English director David Lean (in the early sixties of the last century); It is one of the oldest films that achieved great fame and was filmed in the region, including the succession of shooting other international films. But some assert that the first film filmed in Ouarzazate - which in Berber means "the quiet city" - dates back to the end of 1897, a movie entitled "The Moroccan Knight" directed by Louis Minyar, and this film qualified the city to occupy this high artistic position, in addition to its beautiful natural qualifications. From water sources, canes, sand castles, and outdoor tourist shelters, the most famous of which is the “Ben Haddou” kasbah, and oases with palm trees and meadows that captured the directors, where the region has everything related to the film industry with international quality, which facilitates the task for directors and producers looking for stardom and fame. And success and money.
Ouarzazate.. Hundreds of films and the latest studios
The city has the latest high-tech movie studios, and everything that contributes to the success of any cinematic project in the region that is required by the professional cinematic process. The city’s studios extend over nearly a hundred hectares, open to a beautiful nature, and include everything needed for the cinematic process, such as a cinematic rehabilitation center, cinema divisions at the university, montage halls and production laboratories, hotel units, actors playing secondary roles (compares), photography studios, and hotel units. Classified and production offices, laboratories for rehabilitation and cinematic professions, as well as war sites, cannons and armored vehicles, houses with different architecture and decorations of gold, spaces dedicated to horses and camels, and all accessories such as shields, swords, warplanes, ships, vehicles, prisons, palaces, temples, historical walls, and everything that the director needs. To shoot his movie, whatever its subject.
Hundreds of films have been filmed in the region since the nineteenth century until now, perhaps the most famous of which are “The Jewel of the Nile” by Michael Douglas, “Condon” by American director Martin Scorsese, the famous “Cleopatra” by Frank Rodham, “The Mummy” by Stephen Somar, and "Alexander the Great" by Oliver Stone, in addition to many films, television series and documentaries by major stars and directors such as Tom Hans, Clint Astwood, Jonah Hale and Bradley Cooper.
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| The city has the latest movie studios with high technologies, and everything that contributes to the success of any cinematic project held in the region and required by the professional cinematic process. |
Decorations are natural and labor is almost free
Abd al-Rahim Asher told Al Jazeera Documentary, one of the actors and supporters of the film movement in Morocco, that Ouarzazate, whose transactions generate more than $100 million in profit per year; Filmmakers from all over the world are offered a cinematic service that is almost free and at the lowest costs compared to what they might spend on making a movie in their countries of origin, especially at the level of the decoration industry and the labor force, stressing that Ouarzazate has natural decorations that do not require the producers to spend a lot of money Which contributes to reducing the financial cost of production, and encourages those who want to shoot their films. With regard to the labor that works in this field, Asher added that the labor is very cheap, and that is from “Copars”, workers, assistants, etc., which the producers should not exploit to achieve great gains at the expense of miserable people and sweat of the brow of the vulnerable and poor, calling on the responsible authorities to The sector is legalizing and regulating this field, and making it in the interest of the social situation of workers in this field, because of the financial gains and huge profits that it achieves. Tenth also pointed out that the financial returns from the film sector in the region should bring good and development to the region, especially the provision of various facilities, needs and services to the population and the youth of the region, especially at the level of education, rehabilitation and development of the tourism field in particular, not to mention cinematography, and therefore the need to raise the level of The city’s social and development services, in order to keep pace with the various developments and to be at the level of the aspirations of foreign tourists who visit the city, whether they came to shoot a movie or to discover the city’s worlds and its tourist, historical and natural qualifications.
Regarding the value of the documentary film’s presence in Ouarzazate, Tenth stressed the importance of paying attention to documentary cinema in the city and its neighboring cities, especially the cities of Zagora and Mhamid El Ghizlane and the countryside and valleys of the region, given the value of the historical, natural and documentary richness of the region where religious corners, historical staves, ancient cities and scientific flags are available, especially The region has the most famous corner in Morocco, the Nasiriyah corner, from which many scholars graduated, and it still constitutes one of the tributaries of the religious and scientific culture in the country. Not only in the region, but in the various neighboring desert regions, especially Mauritania and Senegal, and the various Islamic countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Asher stressed that the documentaries filmed in the region are insufficient, given the intellectual, historical, cultural, geographical, natural and material and intangible heritage in the field of folk music and inscriptions, and local desert traditions and customs, stressing the importance of filming more documentaries that touch the historical and human dimension, Instead of fictional, fictional and commercial films, in order to dust off the glorious history of the region and its men in various cultural, religious, scientific, political, heritage, humanitarian and other fields.
Ouarzazate.. the country of a thousand decorations and decorations
For his part, the oriental director Bakrin - a director of documentaries, the latest of which is the movie "Returning", which talks about the return of some children and members of Moroccan immigrants in Europe, especially from Italy after the economic crisis that struck Europe and its repercussions are still present, is one of the lovers of the related desert cinema. Traveling and traveling - he stressed that the city of Marrakesh and from there to Ouarzazate, which some call the town of a thousand decor and decoration, embraces imaginary spaces, and in its picturesque scenes the elements of the desert, mountain, plain, valley, sea and snow meet, in an unimaginable image, highlighting the nominal value of the city as a space for creativity, peace and coexistence. And tolerance between different religions, peoples, cultures, and cosmic cinematic and artistic experiences.
Bakrin, who is preparing to film a documentary about the historical city of Marrakesh, said, "The fame of Ouarzazate increases whenever a film in which he was shot achieves high returns, and has received great attention from the international media, or won international and international awards, which confirms that the cosmic audience is always attracted to All the beautiful, as well as the professionalism of the directors who choose the stars thanks to which success is achieved, without forgetting the huge budget that is allocated to the completion of one of the films, which sometimes exceeds five million dollars.
He pointed out that some of the region's residents who work in the city's movie studios, estimated at about 11,000 people, still need care, improve their financial conditions and grant them their rights, especially that the wages they receive are low compared to the great moral services they provide for any film from The international films shot there.
He stressed that workers at the level of fashion, sewing, plastering, carpentry, knitting, construction, dyeing, horse riding, stunts, and all that a film requires is an integral part of the entire cinematic process, and therefore the achievement of any film for any fame, international awards or financial gains is part of the whole success, and this What calls for attention to them and not to make them as accessories to furnish them with the scenes of the movie is enough, and then the need to rehabilitate the invisibility soldiers who play a major role in contributing to the cinematic development of the region.
He also pointed out that the creative, artistic and natural impetus that the city has become - the fourth international city that receives thousands of visitors, including film tourists this year - encouraged a new generation of young filmmakers from inside and outside Morocco to film their short and long works there.
Filmed in the Ouarzazate region since the nineteenth century until now hundreds of films