MEDI1TV Afrique : Culture - 05/12/2024
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00:00Welcome to Medea TV and Zoom in this chroniculture on two young Moroccan directors, Samir and Hicham Harrag.
00:19They are twins and it's a first exercise for me. I'm going to try to get out of this chroniculture.
00:26Hicham and Samir, thank you very much for accepting our invitation.
00:30A very first question, you are in Marrakech in the Atlas workshops.
00:33You are part of the first promotion of the new Atlas Station section.
00:39A word on this experience.
00:42We are very proud and honored to be in Morocco with this first edition,
00:47which is sensational because we have the opportunity to meet extraordinary people
00:53and meet renowned people internationally.
00:58We are very happy to be here this year for this first edition.
01:04It's still an honor for us.
01:06Samir, how did this first experience go?
01:10We always wanted to participate in the Marrakech Festival.
01:14When we learned that we were selected for the first promotion of Atlas Station,
01:19we were very happy.
01:21We are very surprised by the quality of the participants.
01:27I think we would never have had the opportunity to meet participants of this level
01:33if we were not at Atlas Station. It's incredible.
01:36You are here in the context of this first experience and initiative at Atlas Station,
01:43which is intended for Moroccans, exclusively Moroccans, who have projects.
01:48Can you tell us a word about the project you wanted to participate in,
01:53with which you were selected here at the Marrakech Atlas Workshop?
02:03We came with a project that I think many Moroccans know,
02:08called Grand Gaillard.
02:10It's a short film we made three years ago,
02:15which toured Morocco and won a lot of awards here,
02:18between Oujda and Agadir.
02:20We won a lot of awards here with this film.
02:23We developed it into a feature film,
02:25and it is this feature film that is selected at Atlas Station.
02:29We are very proud to be able to share it as a preview in our country.
02:34I hope that next year we will be the official selection.
02:38I hope so too.
02:40Hicham and Samir, you were born in France,
02:43you live between France and the United States.
02:47You are here in Marrakech, you are originally from Oujda.
02:50Is it like your cinema, this journey through time and space?
02:56Totally.
02:58We have been immersed in Moroccan and American cinema since we were little.
03:04We thought, why not mix all this mixture
03:10and bring a new breath and a new image?
03:13We call it the hybrid thing,
03:16to bring this American image with a story of our cultures,
03:21especially Moroccan culture.
03:23Even though we were born in Paris,
03:26at home it was Arabic, Moroccan culture,
03:30we eat, we breathe Moroccan.
03:34The extraordinary thing is to arrive in the United States,
03:39we have been in Los Angeles for three years now,
03:42and to say that we are Franco-Moroccan,
03:45we are told, wow, I love it.
03:48We are proud of our origins,
03:51and we are out of the box.
03:56Exactly.
03:58We are exotic for them.
04:00I really want to ask you a question,
04:03because when you imagine American cinema being in the United States,
04:06it's a bit hard, maybe for you,
04:09coming from these different cultures,
04:12but we know that succeeding in the United States is also complicated in this universe.
04:17How did these three years go?
04:20It was an adventure.
04:25He can't even explain it, it was very difficult.
04:28It's a very big adventure.
04:31It's funny, because during this trip,
04:34we saw ourselves in the journey of our parents in France.
04:37Because we were born in France, in Paris,
04:40we feel like we were born with a privilege.
04:43It was something that was due,
04:45we arrived there and it was like that.
04:48And it's true that we didn't know what our parents went through.
04:51And going there, it's true that we found ourselves in a country
04:54where we didn't know the language,
04:56where the culture was different,
04:58and that's what our parents went through when they came to France.
05:00And it was very, very hard.
05:02And when we thought about it, we said to ourselves,
05:04but our parents had to go through something so complicated,
05:08coming to a country with these children,
05:11where you have to make a living,
05:13you have to take care of your family,
05:15and again, we were only the two of us,
05:17so I can't even imagine how hard it could have been for our parents.
05:20Our parents are heroes.
05:22One last question.
05:24A word on the shooting of this film,
05:27here, in the United States, in France, or maybe elsewhere.
05:31It will be shot in France,
05:33because it's a bit like the same thing,
05:36it's an identity story about a Moroccan family
05:39that has values,
05:42and that one of the children will fight for...
05:46In fact, it's the second generation,
05:49and we see a little bit...
05:51It's like the image of Moroccan shooters,
05:54it's the new generation of Moroccans
05:57who were born in France and who will fight for France,
06:00and who come back a little bit abandoned by their homeland.
06:05PTSD, all this stuff...
06:09We have this culture where you can't abandon someone in your family,
06:13and we have this dilemma of what do we do?
06:16Do we place this person in a specialized center,
06:20or do we have to take care of it,
06:22because it's the same blood?
06:24So we have this dilemma,
06:26and we explain...
06:28We won't say too much.
06:30Not too much!
06:32I left you the last word,
06:34because you are the older brother,
06:36even if you are younger.
06:38But it doesn't matter, you are the older brother.
06:40Thank you very much, Antoleka,
06:42for your good spirit, Antoleka,
06:44and this good mood that you transmit.
06:46I wish you good luck for the next edition
06:48of the International Film Festival in Marrakech,
06:51even if you are not in the competition.
06:53I hope I can see you in this panorama,
06:56maybe Moroccan, that the festival keeps.
06:58Thank you very much, Samir and Hicham Haddak,
07:01for accepting our invitation.
07:03And I remind you that you are part
07:05of the first promotion of Atlas Station,
07:09which was launched this year,
07:11during the 21st edition of the International Film Festival in Marrakech.
07:15Thank you, dear viewers, for your loyalty.
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