Introduction
Morocco, Land For Film-Making
Morocco is becoming these last years one of the privileged sites where international directors and producers like to shoot films. About 20 to 30 films are made every year. Americans but also French, Italians, British or Dutch find this land the stimulating place for imagination realms.
Morocco sunny and light side of life, its privileged geography, both hot and tempered climatically, is one of the few countries that is endowed with nature. Located at the gate of Africa and Europe, bordered by the Mediterranean in the north, and by the Atlantic in the west, being largely open on the Sahara desert, the country has always been the hub of history making and place for ideal shooting.
Since a few decades, Morocco, due to its natural assets, the variety of its sites, its ethnical diversity, witnessed a wave of film-makers coming from all horizons searching a natural setting made of the desert, palm-trees, caravans, folkdance, and ancient monuments.
For memory, some famous films are related to the Moroccan land :
"Othello" (1949) by Orson Welles
"The Man Who Knew a Lot" (1956) by Alfred Hitchkok
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) by David Lean
"100.000 Dollars In The Sun" (1963) by Henry Verneuil
"The Man Who would be King" (1975) by John Huston
"The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988) by Martin Scorceses
"A Tea in the Sahara" (1991) by Bernardo Bertolluchi
"Gladiators" (2002 by Ridley Scott
"Alexander" (2004) by Oliver Stone
Being aware of the geographical and human assets of the country and of the positive impact of film shooting on national economy, job opportunities, vocational training of Moroccan artists and technicians, the government has taken, at the MCC instigation, incentives in favour of foreign producers, among them :
Assistance, in the best conditions, of State institutions : Royal Armed Force, Royal Air Force, Royal Marine, Royal Gendarmerie and the police.
Provisional import procedure simplified for temporary import of arms and munitions necessary to film shooting.
Royal Air Maroc discount on air transport of persons and goods .
Symbolic tariffs for shooting in historic monuments and sites .
VAT exemption on goods and services purchased in Morocco.
Import and export customs procedure simplified for shooting material.
The setting up of services within the MCC to ease administrative measures and contacts with officials concerned by film shooting.
Such elements have been determining for international film-making companies to select Morocco as a destination to make film production, which has obviously side effects on Morocco cinema development and national economy.
In order to assist expansion of this nowadays vital sector, several investors, national and foreign, have built studios, with fully equipped structure in Casablanca, Ouarzazate, (Atlas studios, Kan Zamane studios, Cinedina studios). The last studio to be established is studio CLA, officially open by HM King MOHAMMED VI at Ouarzazate in January 2005.
The judicious interest of the highest authority of the nation for the cinema industry is an encouragement for the government, the professionals, and the artists to work hard for continuing and amplifying this dear and common wish, the witness of a real expansion of film-making in Morocco.
Morocco sunny and light side of life, its privileged geography, both hot and tempered climatically, is one of the few countries that is endowed with nature. Located at the gate of Africa and Europe, bordered by the Mediterranean in the north, and by the Atlantic in the west, being largely open on the Sahara desert, the country has always been the hub of history making and place for ideal shooting.
Since a few decades, Morocco, due to its natural assets, the variety of its sites, its ethnical diversity, witnessed a wave of film-makers coming from all horizons searching a natural setting made of the desert, palm-trees, caravans, folkdance, and ancient monuments.
For memory, some famous films are related to the Moroccan land :
Being aware of the geographical and human assets of the country and of the positive impact of film shooting on national economy, job opportunities, vocational training of Moroccan artists and technicians, the government has taken, at the MCC instigation, incentives in favour of foreign producers, among them :
Such elements have been determining for international film-making companies to select Morocco as a destination to make film production, which has obviously side effects on Morocco cinema development and national economy.
In order to assist expansion of this nowadays vital sector, several investors, national and foreign, have built studios, with fully equipped structure in Casablanca, Ouarzazate, (Atlas studios, Kan Zamane studios, Cinedina studios). The last studio to be established is studio CLA, officially open by HM King MOHAMMED VI at Ouarzazate in January 2005.
The judicious interest of the highest authority of the nation for the cinema industry is an encouragement for the government, the professionals, and the artists to work hard for continuing and amplifying this dear and common wish, the witness of a real expansion of film-making in Morocco.
