From Morocco to Yemen, a selection of four contemporary short films.
This session explores the connections between memory, history, and creativity through narratives in which places, archives, and images serve as witnesses to individual and collective histories.
Short films:
Word of mouth
In the heart of Jemaâ el-Fna, Marrakech’s famous square, rumors suggest that a dark mystery, long forgotten by time, lies hidden there: a secret prison. Drawing on stories passed down by word of mouth, the film explores the boundaries between memory, legend, and reality.
Through this sensitive investigation, he explores how stories are passed down, transformed, and continue to haunt places, revealing the invisible traces of a buried past.
By Kassem Skalli (Morocco, 2024, 12’) – Documentary
Imagine Me Like a Country of Love
“Imagine Me Like a Country of Love ” is an experimental short film about returning to Yemen after a ten-year absence. Blending contemporary footage, rediscovered family photos, and animation, it explores memory, belonging, and grief.
The archives, saved thanks to the director’s mother, serve as the central thread of a poetic and fragmented reflection. Moving to the rhythm of a discontinuous and uncertain memory, the film explores what remains of memories shattered by war and exile—far beyond the visible ruins.
By Thana Faroq (Yemen, Qatar, Netherlands, 2026, 20’) – Documentary
In Retrospect
In 1972, immigrant workers helped build the shopping center and the Olympic Village in Munich. Forty-four years later, in 2016, nine young people from immigrant backgrounds were murdered there in a racist attack.
Echoing the film *Addressee Unknown* (1983), in which a woman asks, “Why so much hatred?”, *In Retrospect* interweaves these three time frames to examine the persistence of racism, the transmission of memory, and the lasting traces that violence leaves on places and societies.
By Mila Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faezi (Germany, 2025, 15’) – Documentary
Co-Directed With a Ghost
Originally, these images were shot with no intention of making a film: they were simply footage featuring a non-professional actor. But the intervention of the actor’s older brother gradually upends their meaning, calling into question the very nature of the images, their function, and the creative process. By inserting himself into the narrative, he becomes an invisible presence that rewrites the film from within, like a true “phantom co-director.”
Through this approach, the film explores—with humor and subtlety—the boundaries between reality, staging, and filmmaking.
By Muhammad Salah (Egypt, 2025, 9’) – Documentary
From Morocco to Yemen, a selection of four contemporary short films.
This session explores the connections between memory, history, and creativity through narratives in which places, archives, and images serve as witnesses to individual and collective histories.
Short films:
Word of mouth
In the heart of Jemaâ el-Fna, Marrakech’s famous square, rumors suggest that a dark mystery, long forgotten by time, lies hidden there: a secret prison. Drawing on stories passed down by word of mouth, the film explores the boundaries between memory, legend, and reality.
Through this sensitive investigation, he explores how stories are passed down, transformed, and continue to haunt places, revealing the invisible traces of a buried past.
By Kassem Skalli (Morocco, 2024, 12’) – Documentary
Imagine Me Like a Country of Love
“Imagine Me Like a Country of Love ” is an experimental short film about returning to Yemen after a ten-year absence. Blending contemporary footage, rediscovered family photos, and animation, it explores memory, belonging, and grief.
The archives, saved thanks to the director’s mother, serve as the central thread of a poetic and fragmented reflection. Moving to the rhythm of a discontinuous and uncertain memory, the film explores what remains of memories shattered by war and exile—far beyond the visible ruins.
By Thana Faroq (Yemen, Qatar, Netherlands, 2026, 20’) – Documentary
In Retrospect
In 1972, immigrant workers helped build the shopping center and the Olympic Village in Munich. Forty-four years later, in 2016, nine young people from immigrant backgrounds were murdered there in a racist attack.
Echoing the film *Addressee Unknown* (1983), in which a woman asks, “Why so much hatred?”, *In Retrospect* interweaves these three time frames to examine the persistence of racism, the transmission of memory, and the lasting traces that violence leaves on places and societies.
By Mila Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faezi (Germany, 2025, 15’) – Documentary
Co-Directed With a Ghost
Originally, these images were shot with no intention of making a film: they were simply footage featuring a non-professional actor. But the intervention of the actor’s older brother gradually upends their meaning, calling into question the very nature of the images, their function, and the creative process. By inserting himself into the narrative, he becomes an invisible presence that rewrites the film from within, like a true “phantom co-director.”
Through this approach, the film explores—with humor and subtlety—the boundaries between reality, staging, and filmmaking.
By Muhammad Salah (Egypt, 2025, 9’) – Documentary
An event organized as part of the Mediterranean 2026 season
