Archive of films Oh the Days! / Alyam, alyam
Morocco
1978, 88 min
Section:
Tribute to The Film Foundation
Year: 2021
Celebrated Moroccan filmmaker El-Maanouni’s first feature is a searing portrait of an heir of a rural family torn between his domestic duties and his dreams of leaving for the city for a better, different future. Raw and uncompromising, El-Maanouni’s trailblazing documentary paved the way for the subsequent wave of realism that would shake up Arab cinema.
Synopsis
Better known for his iconic musical documentary Trances (1981), celebrated Moroccan filmmaker El-Maanouni’s first feature is a searing portrait of an heir of a rural family torn between his domestic duties and his dreams of leaving for the city for a better, different future. Raw and uncompromising in its depiction of the lost Moroccan generation swept aside by the inexorable forces of modernity, and in its emphasis on the debilitating burden of masculinity, El Maanouni’s trailblazing documentary paved the way for the subsequent wave of realism that would shake up Arab cinema. Largely unseen and inaccessible for decades, The Film Foundation’s restoration has breathed new life into one of the early jewels of Arab non-fiction filmmaking.
Joseph Fahim
Restored in 2015 by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in collaboration with Ahmed El-Maanouni. Restoration carried out at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory; 4k scan performed at Eclair laboratories.
About the director
Ahmed El-Maanouni (1944, Casablanca, Morocco). Filmography: Alyam, Alyam (1978), Trances (1981, doc.), Eyes of the Gulf (1984, short doc.), The Fiction of the Protectorate: The Resistances, The New Challenges (2006, doc. part 1), Burned Hearts (2007), Conversations with Driss Chraïbi (2008, TV doc.), Life and Reign of Mohamed V (2015, TV doc.), Julie – Aicha (2016).
Contacts
Cineteca di Bologna
Via dell'Industria 2, 40138, Bologna
Italy
Tel: +39 051 601 8607
E-mail: [email protected]
About the film
Color, DCP
Section: | Tribute to The Film Foundation |
---|---|
Director: | Ahmed El-Maanouni |
Screenplay: | Ahmed El Maanouni |
Dir. of Photography: | Ahmed El Maanouni |
Music: | Nass El Ghiwane |
Editor: | Martine Chicot |
Producer: | Ahmed El Maanouni |
Production: | Mars Films, Lux Films |
Sales: | Cineteca di Bologna |