Volubilis - UK Premiere Film

Synopsis

In the imperial Moroccan city of Meknes, Abdelkader is a security guard and Malika is a domestic employee. Recently married, they are madly in love and they dream of moving in together, despite the financial difficulties they face. One day, Abdelkader experiences a violent and humiliating incident that will turn the couple’s destiny upside-down. It is a tale of love in a world of despair, of beauty among the ruins.

Volubulis is Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi’s fourth feature. The film addresses the class divide in contemporary Moroccan society, and its direct ties with neoliberal capitalism. Bensaïdi narrates the fates of the underprivileged while also depicting the challenging personal lives of those with money and power. Bensaïdi has reinvented the melodrama as a tale that tells it like it is, without compromises. A favourite at the Venice Biennale, and winner of the Grand Festival Prize at the Festival National de Cinema in Tangier, the film gained high acclaim from both festival audiences and film critics.

Plus short

Ayam - UK Premiere

Sofia El Khyari | Morocco/UK 2017 | 3m | Moroccan Arabic with English subtitles | PG

Three generations of Moroccan women share memories of learning and tradition as they exchange anecdotes while preparing the traditional tea ceremony of Eid al Adha. Ayamuses mixed-media paper cut-out, stop-motion, acrylic paint and soft pastels, ink and crayon on brown paper in an animation that combines elements of old school Asian anime films as well as distinct Moroccan aesthetics such as soft contours, bright colours, decorative backgrounds, geometrical shapes and organically flowing lines and calligraphy.

This screening is kindly sponsored by the University of Exeter and the AHRC.