About Some Meaningless Events
A group of young filmmakers ask residents of Casablanca for their opinions on Moroccan cinema as part of a film project. During the shoot, a dispute breaks out between a dockworker and his superior, resulting in the accidental death of the latter. Having captured the incident on film, the crew begins to question the man’s motives and reflect on the role of cinema in society and the forms it can take.
| Director | Mostafa Derkaoui |
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Scene 1 — Exterior, day or night. 1973.
Bar-counter conversations that seem to be about this and that—and, to some extent, about freedom as well. Off-screen, a man’s voice: "Cut!"
Part "mockumentary", part film noir, About Some Meaningless Events blurs the boundaries, presenting us with a false documentary that, precisely through its fiction, tells us a great deal about reality. The gesture is performative. As a self-critique of a certain intellectual class, the film invites us—as it invites itself—to question what cinema is truly capable of. It does not deceive reality; it stages it in order to expose its own falsehoods, ultimately turning that deception back on its own filmmaker.
Long kept from public view, perhaps because its bleak conclusion—that of a society unable to change—felt like a direct provocation during Morocco's Years of Lead. It does, indeed, speak of those years. But it raises questions that remain relevant today.
Line Peyron
Head of Streaming Service at Tënk, France
-
Français
1h18
Language: Français
Subtitles: Français -
English
1h18
Language: English
Subtitles: English
- Année 1974
- Pays Morocco
- Durée 78
- Producteur Basma Production, Mostafa Derkaoui
- Langue Arab
- Sous-titres French, English
- Résumé court A long-censored film, both a pinnacle of 1970s activist cinema and a theoretical manifesto for the renewal of Moroccan cinema.
- Ordre 5
- TLF_Applismb_CA 1
- Date édito CA 2026-07-10
Scene 1 — Exterior, day or night. 1973.
Bar-counter conversations that seem to be about this and that—and, to some extent, about freedom as well. Off-screen, a man’s voice: "Cut!"
Part "mockumentary", part film noir, About Some Meaningless Events blurs the boundaries, presenting us with a false documentary that, precisely through its fiction, tells us a great deal about reality. The gesture is performative. As a self-critique of a certain intellectual class, the film invites us—as it invites itself—to question what cinema is truly capable of. It does not deceive reality; it stages it in order to expose its own falsehoods, ultimately turning that deception back on its own filmmaker.
Long kept from public view, perhaps because its bleak conclusion—that of a society unable to change—felt like a direct provocation during Morocco's Years of Lead. It does, indeed, speak of those years. But it raises questions that remain relevant today.
Line Peyron
Head of Streaming Service at Tënk, France
-
Français
Duration: 1h18Language: Français
Subtitles: Français1h18 -
English
Duration: 1h18Language: English
Subtitles: English1h18
- Année 1974
- Pays Morocco
- Durée 78
- Producteur Basma Production, Mostafa Derkaoui
- Langue Arab
- Sous-titres French, English
- Résumé court A long-censored film, both a pinnacle of 1970s activist cinema and a theoretical manifesto for the renewal of Moroccan cinema.
- Ordre 5
- TLF_Applismb_CA 1
- Date édito CA 2026-07-10
