A resounding scandal has rocked the Moroccan Ministry of Culture, following the uproar caused by the decision of the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM) to sanction the director of the film “Zanka Contact”, a year after its release, without realising that it contained a song by the Saharawi artist and activist for the right to independence of Western Sahara, Mariam Hassan.
This decision by the Moroccan Film Centre aggravated the situation, especially since “Zanka Contact”, which had a budget of 4,200,000 Moroccan dirhams (about 380,000 euros), was screened in 16 cinemas in six Moroccan cities.
Better still, “Zanka Contact” won the Grand Prize at the Tangier National Film Festival last September.
The film was screened throughout the year, from September 2021 to August 2022, without the authorities noticing that it included a song by Saharawi artist Mariam Hassan, who calls for an end to the Moroccan occupation of the Saharawi territories and defends the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination and independence.
The decision of the centre, under the supervision of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture, comes after a major controversy on social networks, when the Moroccan electronic media discovered that “Zanka Contact” contained a song calling for the independence of Western Sahara.
The CCM decided to suspend the visas for the cultural and commercial exploitation of the film “Zanka Contact”, as well as the suspension of the director’s professional card and the suspension of the national and international promotion of the film.
The film has aroused great controversy in the Moroccan cultural and artistic world, and specialists have criticised the screening committee, which includes representatives of the Ministry of Culture, “for not having screened the film before showing it to the general public”.
The initial version of the script made no mention of the song that caused the controversy, said CCM officials, who gave the production company 48 hours to change the editing based on the initial script, or risk withdrawing the exploitation licence.
The film’s director, Ismael El Iraki, regretted in a statement what he called a “misinterpretation” that had taken on major proportions.
It was a purely artistic and musical choice, he explained, adding that he “simply decided to add a female voice”. It doesn’t matter what your political opinion is.
Fate decided otherwise for this director, because his artistic choice serves the interests of the Saharawi people, conveying a strong message, that of their right to self-determination, independence and the recovery of their territories occupied by the Moroccan kingdom, down to the last piece of land.
