Possibilité du filmage documentaire des marges berbères au Maroc : Cas comparés des tournages clandestins de La Longue journée (Mohamed Abbazi, 1969) et d’Amussu (Nadir Bouhmouch, 2019)

Abstract

This paper explores two filmic attempts at compensating the invisibility
in which Amazigh people and struggles are kept in Morocco. Both films and
filmmakers experimented shooting and production plans, devices and film forms
that should best convey these realities. With a 50-year interval between the
two, both attempts share the ambition to go against the limitations imposed by
the “Centre Cinématographique Marocain”, resorting to clandestine shooting,
and supported by an international network. In particular, both attempts were
made possible by a detour through California (USA). The Breadwinner (1969)
is indeed an unfinished documentary by Mohamed Abbazi, dedicated to the
Berber-speaking cleaning ladies who arrived in Casablanca in the wake of the
rural exodus. Amussu (Movement, 2019) is a collective shooting directed by
Nadir Bouhmouch, dedicated to the long-lasting struggle of a Berber tribe from
the High Atlas mountains, against a silver miner depriving them from their water
and polluting their land.