From Family Archives to Collective Memory: A Dialogue on the Work of Ahmed Bouanani.
A Conversation with Touda Bouanani and Marie Pierre-Bouthier.
The family’s apartment in Rabat, which was destroyed by a fire in 2006, housed decades of creative work: films, manuscripts, costumes, and photographs by Ahmed Bouanani—a leading Moroccan poet and filmmaker—his wife Naïma Saoudi, and their daughter Batoul. Faced with this loss, visual artist Touda Bouanani chose to resist.
Since 2011, she has led efforts to preserve and promote this legacy, which was formally established as an association in 2021. At her side, Marie Pierre-Bouthier, a film historian and founding member of the collective, published *Resist, Decolonize, Take Root* in 2026. Through Bouanani’s work, her book analyzes strategies for circumventing censorship and the quest for a decolonized documentary perspective in post-independence Morocco. Their dialogue embodies the transition from a private and endangered archive to a shared project of collective reappropriation, in which the researcher’s and the artist’s approaches complement each other to break down the barriers of memory.
The discussion will be followed by a screening of Ahmed Bouanani’s *Le Mirage* (1979)—the first film restored by the Moroccan Cinema Center—and a book signing for Marie Pierre-Bouthier’s *Résister, décoloniser, enraciner* (
). Filmmakers in Search of a “New Perspective” on Documentary Film in Independent Morocco (1956–2019).
The Mirage
In Morocco under French protectorate rule, a young farmer discovers a wad of bills hidden in a sack of flour. Hoping to change his life, he leaves his village with his wife and heads to the city to exchange the money. But his journey plunges him into a world populated by con artists, false sages, and enigmatic characters. Straddling the line between dream and reality, *Le Mirage* takes the form of a poetic fable that explores the illusions of progress, power dynamics, and the disillusionment of a society marked by colonialism.
Restored version.
By Ahmed Bouanani (Morocco, 1979, 1 hour 40 minutes) – Fiction
Starring: Mohamed Habachi, Hamid Zniber, Naïma Lamcharki.
The screening will be preceded by *Archive Katsakh* (Travelogue, Sousse, Tunisia, 1971, 3’23”, black and white. Collection: Katsakh. Original 8 mm).
Learn more about ...
Touda Bouanani, visual artist
Touda Bouanani is a multidisciplinary visual artist and videographer who serves as the curator of the Bouanani Archives in Casablanca. A 1993 graduate of the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts, her work is rooted in an ongoing exploration of the dialogue between poetic text and image. In 2021, she founded the Archives Bouanani association to promote this collection, and, together with Léa Morin and Maya Ouabadi, launched the Intilak collective, dedicated to a feminist and decolonial rewriting of the history of cinema.
Marie Pierre-Bouthier, associate professor of the history and aesthetics of documentary film
Marie Pierre-Bouthier is an associate professor of documentary film history and aesthetics at the University of Picardie Jules Verne. Her research focuses on documentary practices of resistance in the Maghreb and on issues related to the decolonization of the gaze. A founding member of the Bouanani Archives, she works to promote marginal cinema and strategies for circumventing censorship in Morocco after independence.
From Family Archives to Collective Memory: A Dialogue on the Work of Ahmed Bouanani.
A Conversation with Touda Bouanani and Marie Pierre-Bouthier.
The family’s apartment in Rabat, which was destroyed by a fire in 2006, housed decades of creative work: films, manuscripts, costumes, and photographs by Ahmed Bouanani—a leading Moroccan poet and filmmaker—his wife Naïma Saoudi, and their daughter Batoul. Faced with this loss, visual artist Touda Bouanani chose to resist.
Since 2011, she has led efforts to preserve and promote this legacy, which was formally established as an association in 2021. At her side, Marie Pierre-Bouthier, a film historian and founding member of the collective, published *Resist, Decolonize, Take Root* in 2026. Through Bouanani’s work, her book analyzes strategies for circumventing censorship and the quest for a decolonized documentary perspective in post-independence Morocco. Their dialogue embodies the transition from a private and endangered archive to a shared project of collective reappropriation, in which the researcher’s and the artist’s approaches complement each other to break down the barriers of memory.
The discussion will be followed by a screening of Ahmed Bouanani’s *Le Mirage* (1979)—the first film restored by the Moroccan Cinema Center—and a book signing for Marie Pierre-Bouthier’s *Résister, décoloniser, enraciner* (
). Filmmakers in Search of a “New Perspective” on Documentary Film in Independent Morocco (1956–2019).
The Mirage
In Morocco under French protectorate rule, a young farmer discovers a wad of bills hidden in a sack of flour. Hoping to change his life, he leaves his village with his wife and heads to the city to exchange the money. But his journey plunges him into a world populated by con artists, false sages, and enigmatic characters. Straddling the line between dream and reality, *Le Mirage* takes the form of a poetic fable that explores the illusions of progress, power dynamics, and the disillusionment of a society marked by colonialism.
Restored version.
By Ahmed Bouanani (Morocco, 1979, 1 hour 40 minutes) – Fiction
Starring: Mohamed Habachi, Hamid Zniber, Naïma Lamcharki.
The screening will be preceded by *Archive Katsakh* (Travelogue, Sousse, Tunisia, 1971, 3’23”, black and white. Collection: Katsakh. Original 8 mm).
Learn more about ...
Touda Bouanani, visual artist
Touda Bouanani is a multidisciplinary visual artist and videographer who serves as the curator of the Bouanani Archives in Casablanca. A 1993 graduate of the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts, her work is rooted in an ongoing exploration of the dialogue between poetic text and image. In 2021, she founded the Archives Bouanani association to promote this collection, and, together with Léa Morin and Maya Ouabadi, launched the Intilak collective, dedicated to a feminist and decolonial rewriting of the history of cinema.
Marie Pierre-Bouthier, associate professor of the history and aesthetics of documentary film
Marie Pierre-Bouthier is an associate professor of documentary film history and aesthetics at the University of Picardie Jules Verne. Her research focuses on documentary practices of resistance in the Maghreb and on issues related to the decolonization of the gaze. A founding member of the Bouanani Archives, she works to promote marginal cinema and strategies for circumventing censorship in Morocco after independence.
An event organized as part of the Mediterranean 2026 season
