Miner’s
France - Morocco, 2019, 47’
Synopsis
There are plenty of legends about coal mining and miners. Underground and above; Handheld DV Camera, I expose the words and the faces of those who are avoided; of those we don’t want to see.
In Morocco, on the Algerian border, in Jerada, it is the end of an era. Every day that passes is a new birth. The mine has been closed for twenty years. Seven thousand workers were fired. After the liquidation of the Moroccan coal mines, the
curse of coal has hit hard the inhabitants of this mining town. The last miners risk their lives clandestinely. They have no other choice, they dig. “A miner can only be a miner!” in Jerada, this rumor continues its way. The last miners and their children are affected in two ways.
This documentary is a tale in tribute to the children of the post-coal era. An allegory to the economic law which crushes history and to the withdrawal of men in the face of the fate of nature.
Mortada Ouahib
Born in Morocco, Ouahib Mortada first obtained a technician diploma in Civil and Rural Engineering, which he completes
with a DEUG in Human Sciences. He began by working in the Moroccan civil service. Coming to France
he quickly became involved in the movements of the struggles (Droit Au Logement in Paris, and joined activist
networks in Marseille).
He practices journalism, hosts several shows on local radio stations and, through theater, is involved in several
amateur theater companies.
He then turned to cinema, obtained a bachelor degree in Cultural Mediation, became an active member of
Sociocultural and local associations, then commits to writing research with Le SACRE, and Film
flame. With the creation of “Numéro Zéro” in Marseille, he starts working with a group of filmmaker friends in support of
films and artistic endeavors to which the ways to be produced were hardly found, or sometimes not found at all in the
industrial production background.
Initiated in image and sound Techniques professions. From 2004, he devoted himself to film and cinema
research on the Socio-economic crisis following the shutdown of the mining industries in Jerada,