Tangier, February 1, 2007 PRESS RELEASE RE

Tangier, February 1, 2007
PRES S RELEASE
RE: O FF I C I AL OPENING O F THE C INÉMATHÉQUE DE TANGER ON FE B RUARY 2 4 TH ,
20 07
The Cinémathèque de Tanger (CdT) will hold its grand opening on February 24th in its home, the
newly renovated Cinema Rif, located on the historic Grand Socco plaza. After 18 months of
construction the space now includes two theatres, a café, editing suite, reading room and video
library. The opening will feature a presentation of THE WRETCHED LIFE OF JUANITA NARBONI
(JUANITA DE TANGER) with director and native Tangerine, Farida Benlyazid, and crew.
The screening will be preceded by a short presentation about the rebirth of the CdT and, from the
CdT's archive, a historical short film of the Grand Socco from 1935 made by one of the first
filmmakers to film Morocco, Gabriel Veyre.
THE WRETCHED LIFE OF JUANITA NARBONI is a film adaptation of the famous Spanish novel of the same name
by Angel Vasquez. Originally published in 1976, the book was only recently translated into Arabic. The main
character, Juanita, is a witness to Tangier's age d'or during the International Zone period, when many different
cultures and religions shared this city. The film will be at the CdT from February 14th to the 27th.
The CdT officially opened its doors to the public in December 2006 with our first intensive filmmaking
workshop, DOCMAROC, and our children's cine-club, THE MAGIC LANTERN. The opening will be
followed by the SALON INTERNATIONALE DU LIVRE DE TANGER, Febru a ry 2 8 th to M ar ch 4 th
organized by Institut Français du Nord and l'Association Tanger Région Action Culturelle, and a
SYRIAN CINEMA RETROSPECTIVE in partnership with ArteEast.
The CdT is a non-profit organization focused on bringing the best of world cinema, including historical,
contemporary, documentary and experimental film to our Tangerine audience and to audiences
abroad through international partnerships. The CdT is run by artists. It aspires to become the foremost
center for arts and culture in North Africa, with special programming for young and old, women,
aspiring artists and cinephiles.
Here is a look a t ou r 2 00 7 p r o g r am s an d events :
S C REENINGS AND D I S C US S I ON SERIE S
In keeping with the mission of the cinematheque to present innovative contemporary film with an
educational couterpart, we began our FACE-TO-FACE series with TODOS OS LLAMAIS MOHAMED
followed by a discussion with the director Max Lemcke. Director Ali Essafi also presented his films
OUARZAZATE MOVIE and THE BLUES OF SHEIKHATES in January and had lively conversation with
the audience. We have already invited various artists, filmmakers, writers, critics, and festival
programmers to host special Carte Blanche programs of films which they will select and present.
During our DOCUDAYS cycle we present a documentary every weekend.
PARTNERS H IP FILM C YCLES
The CdT also coordinates special programs in collaboration with various organizations, including the
the Syrian Film Retrospective with ArteEast, the Spanish Film Cycle in partnership with the Instituto
Cervantes, a French film cycle with the Institut Français and films the CdT presented at the Biennale
of Contemporary Art Festival of Séville 2 with Fondacion Biacs. These programs allow a Tangerine
audience to view innovative contemporary films from all over the world.
THE MAGI C LAN TERN
Another aspect of our educational programming focuses on youth through a monthly CINE-CLUB for
children, in partnership with the Swiss organization The Magic Lantern. The children in the cine-club
are introduced to the history, technique, and themes found in cinema during a short presentation
before each screening, and read about the films in a bilingual (Arabic-French) booklet we publish and
distribute to them by mail. www.lanterne-magique.com
The next s c reening will be on Sun day, Febr uary 1 8 th , 2 00 7 a t 1 1 :3 0 AM.
D O CMARO C W O RK SH OP
The CdT will host DOCMAROC2, a documentary filmmaking workshop organized in partnership with
the Documentary Filmmakers Group in London, fr o m April 8 th to 2 2n d.
Our December DOCMAROC program brought six students from Morocco and six students from
England, Malta, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia together at the CdT. The DocMaroc program was
designed with DFG under our cultural and educational programming initiative in order to respond to
the dire lack of schools for aspiring filmmakers and media professionals here. The program also
focuses on productive cross-cultural exchange and aims to bridge the gaps in understanding between
the East and West. M ore info r m a tion is av ailable a t
w w w . cinem a thequedet an ger . c om / d o c m a r o c .h t ml.
C OLLEC TI O N
The CdT plans to develop a publicly accessible archive of Moroccan cinema, along with documentary
and experimental film, which currently does not exist anywhere in Morocco. These archives will be
available on screening consoles in our library thanks to a digital database. The CdT will share its
programming at the Cinéma du Réel Festival (March 9th - 18th, 2007, Paris) and at the Côté Court
Festival (March 28th - April 6th, 2007, Pantin, France). We have recently shared our collection
around the world by guest curating a program of films at the Photographers’ Gallery (London), The
Stills gallery (Edinburgh), the 2nd Biennial of Seville (BIACS2).
C OM ING S O O N. ..
ZOCO KINO OPEN AIR FESTIVAL
Summer 2007 will see the first CdT Tangier open air film festival, ZOCO KINO during which we will
project classic films at no charge, on the historic Plaza outside the cinema.
CAMERA OBSCURA
In Fall 2007, the CdT will reveal our in-house CAMERA OBSCURA, along with the "Boite A Enregistrer
Les Souvenirs" for recording the memories of the old Cinema Rif from the people of Tangier, and our
editing suites will be open for regular weekend editing workshops.
Fo r fu r ther info r m a tion or t o join us as a m em ber or s p on s o r please c on ta c t u s a t
info @ c inem a thequedetan ger . c o m o r a t
w w w . cinem a thequedet an ger . c om / mem ber s .h tml
We would like to thank the following sponsors and partners for their continued support:
Ad Vitam
Afric Industries
Agnès b.
Agence de Développement du Nord
Françoise et Daniel Aron
Association Tamaas
Association Darna
Claude Berri
Boostup
Christian Bouvet
Centre Cinématographique Marocain
Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (CICAE)
Conseil Régional Tanger Tétouan
Décipro
Documentary Filmakers Group (Royaume-Uni)
Europa Cinema
European Cultural Foundation
Fondation Prince Claus pour la culture et le développement
Fondation ONA
Christopher Gibbs
Heure Exquise
Institut Français du Nord (Tanger-Tétouan)
Instituto Cervantes
La Lanterne Magique (Suisse)
Ministère de la Communication
Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (France)
Ministère de la Culture (Espagne)
MK2
Région Tanger-Tétouan
Région PACA (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)
Service de Coopération et d'Action Culturelle de l'Ambassade de France au Maroc
Sigma Technologies
The 212 Society
Vidéorama
Tessa Wheeler
C INÉMAT HÈQUE DE TANGER
CINEMA RIF, PLACE DU 9 AVRIL (GRAND SOCCO) TANGER
T/F : +212 (0) 399 346 83
E : [email protected].
www.cinemathequedetanger.com