Condolences from the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival following the loss of the late Mohamed Ismaïl
Mr. Mohamed Ismaïl, the Moroccan director, passed away. This is a great loss for Moroccan and Mediterranean cinema. Nevertheless, the deceased left us a very rich film and television heritage. From an early age he was passionate about cinema and its worlds, and was firmly convinced that the role of art is to embrace the causes of the little people and to film the torments and agitations of citizens.
A great friendship bound the late Si Mohamed Ismaïl to the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival and its organizers. Grateful, the Festival had always, since its inception, programmed its works in all sections (inauguration, Competition, Coup de cœur, Tributes and Retrospective). Unforgettable was the great tribute that the Festival paid this great man in one of its editions.
It was thanks to his film event ” Afterwards…” that his talent as a great director was confirmed very early on. This 2nd opus, while proving the courage and perseverance of the director, propelled him into the limelight. It must be said that this film is characterized by a certain daring. No wonder he was chosen for the inauguration of the 11th edition of the TMFF. Son of the north, the late Mohamed Ismaïl celebrated, in his films, Tetouan and its regions, filming its beauty and its natural diversity. We were able, thanks to the passionate “eye” of his camera, to discover a totally different city, faces, once familiar, almost unknown, magnified by art and cinematic aesthetics. These films, are moreover, characterized by their freedom and spontaneity, which makes them arrive on our screens carrying passions and dreams, relieved of any theoretical and technical arsenal that would guide their vision and determine their priority.
May God have the deceased in his vast mercy. Our sincere condolences to the members of his family and fans of his films.