I focus on cinema… and the new generation of directors is strongly present

As part of the activities of its 29th session, the Mediterranean Cinema Festival in Tetouan celebrates the Moroccan creator and director rebelling against the rules of cinema, Faouzi Bensaidi, for his artistic career full of achievements that enriched the Moroccan cinematographic treasury and made his name imprinted in golden letters as one of the most prominent pioneers of the seventh art in Morocco.

In an interview with the electronic newspaper Hespress, on the sidelines of his honor, Faouzi Bensaidi talks about the honor in Tetouan, the Moroccan film industry, absence from television, and other topics.

What does being honored at the Tetouan Festival mean to you after being honored at the Marrakesh Festival a few months ago?

In fact, the honors this year came like this without warning, or without preparation, because the Tetouan Film Festival thought months ago about this different honor, after the very beautiful honor in Marrakesh, with the idea of ​​showing all my films, even the short ones and the only documentary I completed about cinema halls. What everyone who has not seen these works can discover and make me stop and look with a critical eye at what has been accomplished, and how a person can develop and renew himself so that it does not repeat itself.

Are the awards received by Moroccan productions sufficient to say that we have a real film industry?

In fact, when things go wrong, a person must criticize, but when there is something beautiful, it must be praised. What is wonderful is the strong presence of the new generation recently; The new generation of young directors has come with strength and will come with greater strength in the future. There is still a group of names that emerged in the short film and will shine in the feature film, and I believe that it will constitute a new leap in Moroccan cinema.

Thank God that we have directors with strong films that participated in important events, such as the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, and won great awards, and this bodes well.

Did the lights of the seventh art take Faouzi Bensaidi from television?

Yes in deed. I gave a lot for the sake of cinema, and it also took me away from the theater in which I worked, and I would love to return to it. As for television, I may return to it one day if there is good work, because it needs its time if I want to present it beautifully.

What criteria do you set before you before working on a work of art?

In art in general, I believe that an artist should not cheat, or present things without conviction. Therefore, a film should not be made because of money, fame, or stardom. Rather, the things that should prompt the making of a film are intimacy, an artistic project, and an artistic idea that you want to push forward, and this is very necessary.

Can it be said that comedy films or commercial films in general saved Moroccan halls?

Frankly, I have no problem with the popularity of Moroccan films in halls. This presence is very good, but it is nice that all genres are present, especially films that ask the audience to be present with their intelligence, and these are films that require some kind of time to find their fans, and must be left in the halls for this to happen. Discussion about it and cultivation of taste.

This is what I think we must be careful about, and not everyone follow the same approach regarding a specific type of film whose concern is sometimes commercial profit.

What are your new artistic projects?

We met in Marrakesh, and I refrained from mentioning it, but frankly, I am currently working on writing two projects at the same time, and I do not know which of them will prevail, because the ideas attracted me a lot, and I have not decided which project will see the light first. But I promise in the next interview that I will tell you exclusive details.

last word ..

Thank you Hespress for always keeping up, and I ask the audience to go to the cinema halls, because cinematic spectacle is not equivalent to television or anything else.