‘The atmosphere was electric’ – the rise and fall of Moroccan cinema | Cinema

“You could smoke inside,” Omar Edressi recalls of the Cinema Rif, an 86-year-old theater still standing in Tangier’s Grand Socco. “The first thing that greeted you when you entered the building was a cloud of steam.”

Tickets to the cinema were very cheap in the 1970s when Edressi, a local cinema lover, visited – they cost just one dirham ($0.10) for entry, a sandwich and a soda. Today, a ticket will set you back about 50 dirhams ($5) and a soda about 15 ($1.50).

“Yes, at that time we had to set up our chairs and the place was busy, but we were still going to spend the whole afternoon having fun,” he laughed.

An art-deco building, Cinema Rif stands out from the crowd of whitewashed restaurants and shuttered buildings in Grand Socco, the palm-ringed square that marks the entrance to the city’s ancient medina.

Decorated with bright red paint and colorful movie posters, the establishment has recently been restored; Red-green seats and a sparkling white screen can now be found inside the glittering theater.

The latest installments are part of Cinema Rif’s story of rise and fall and rise. Originally opened in 1938, the establishment has changed significantly from what it was during Edressi’s youth in the 1970s.

A ‘safe haven’ to escape the frugal society – temporarily

The period described by Edressi is often seen as the heyday of Moroccan cinema; in the 1980s, 240 theaters across the country were often packed with moviegoers. More than 42 million cinema tickets were bought each year – a huge number considering that Morocco’s population was around 19.5 million in 1980. Additional tickets were still being sold on the black market.

Journalist and social activist Ahmed Boughaba remembers living in Rabat at this time. To buy tickets to his favorite movie theater, Cinema Renaissance, he would have to arrive an hour early and queue.

“If you arrive late, you will have to buy your ticket at the market,” said Boughaba. “Prices have been rising and getting more expensive.”

These black market sellers would buy popular movie tickets to sell them at a high price. They set up shop in shady street corners and hidden alleys to avoid the vigilante cinema workers and authorities.

The owner of a Tangier gallery, Najoua Elhitmi, recalls similar levels of popularity in Tangier cinemas. In the 1980s, Elhitmi remembers, movie houses were the main meeting place for young people and adults.

“You can avoid making eye contact in the dark, so it was a good place for first dates – and first kisses…” Elhitmi trails off, laughing. “It sounds trivial, but in many ways it was a safe escape from the strictures of Moroccan society.”

Lamia Bengelloun, producer and community manager at the Cine-Theatre Lutetia in Casablanca, which first opened in 1953, tells a similarly moving story. “We just had the premiere of Asmaa El Moudir’s film, The Mother of All Lies,” said Bengelloun. “Asmaa visited the cinema to attend the show and told the audience that her parents’ first date was in Lutetia.”

Cinemas were also places where people could learn about different countries and cultures. “We used to go to watch Indian and Hollywood movies in particular,” said Elhitmi.

Boughaba remembers traveling from Rabat to Casablanca to attend the premiere of new films.

“It would take about an hour and a half to drive there, but the wind was electric,” Boughaba told me. “That’s the best thing about going to the cinema. You can feel the energy and emotions of those around you as you watch the film – it’s a shared experience.”

One of the institutions that often held premieres at this time was the Cine-Theatre Lutetia, and the old art-deco Cinema Rialto – which opened in 1929 and is still active today – was among the most famous places in the city.

“My father and my aunt told me stories about how people dressed up just to come to the movies,” Bengelloun said, his eyes shining. “A trip to the cinema was an event people looked forward to.”

Ups and downs: Satellite TV, pirated DVDs and streaming services

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Moroccan cinemas began to close. In Tangier, famous institutions such as Cinema Roxy, Cinema Paris and Cinema Mauritania were all closed at this time. The Cinema Liberte in Casablanca was one of the dead.

By the time of the Arab Spring in 2011, Moroccan theaters were largely outdated. This may be due to the increasing availability of other forms of media, including DVDs, satellite TV and, finally, the introduction of online streaming services.

“The community started moving at a high speed. People wanted an easy fix to watch movies — not necessarily an afternoon out,” Bengelloun said. “Local favorites, like the Cinema Liberté in Casablanca, closed as a result.”

Institutions such as Cinema Liberté and Cinema Saada, also in Casablanca, were abandoned. “Some places have been destroyed or demolished,” said Bengelloun, dejected. “High-rise apartments or residential buildings took their place.”

The Cine-Theatre Lutetia has managed to stay open, although Bengelloun explains that the large area fell into disrepair from the beginning of the 2000s. “We were not making enough money for repairs and renovations when necessary,” he explains.

Restoration from the ruins

In response to the decline of the country’s cinemas, the Center Cinematographique Marocain began issuing grants to help with renovation projects. A government administrative agency led by the Ministry of Culture, the main objective of this agency is to promote and restore the film industry in the country.

The Cine-Theatre Lutetia is one of the institutions that received funding in 2019.

Today, cinema has been restored to its original glory; art-deco details, including puckered leather doors and broad bold lettering, are seen throughout. Time-worn projectors are displayed outside the screening room, which is furnished with quintessential red chairs and beautiful, striped drapes.

In keeping with the traditional art-deco design of the era in which many of these cinemas were built, Tangier’s Cinema Rif has been restored in the same style.

Installed behind glass cabinets, colorful posters line the facade of the place. Details on this week’s upcoming show, adorned with futuristic images from the international sci-fi game alongside a few silent stills from locally made independent films.

Along the sidewalk in front of the building, crooked wooden chairs and green tables host visitors sipping vintage glass soda bottles.

The cinema dining experience continues inside, where upholstered leather sofas and bar stools are dotted around the glass ticket office. Also a cultural center in Tangier, the cafe keeps the flow of visitors at any time.

Edressi tells Al Jazeera that visiting the place makes no sense to him. “There are a lot of details left over from when I used to go all those years ago, but now the space is open to a new generation.”

Simple and open-eyed, 27-year-old Chems Eddine Nouab is the technical director at Tangier’s Cinema Rif. Nouab is responsible for sound processing and operating the projectors. He also occasionally helps select the weekly show and is currently writing his first film script in his spare time.

He says: “When I was young, many cinemas were closed. “I grew up watching movies on television and buying DVDs from local shops.

“The restoration of institutions like the Rif gave me the opportunity to experience the culture of cinema.”

Rabat’s Cinema Renaissance closed in 2006, remaining closed for several years before resuming limited operations in 2013. After a series of significant renovations, the venue fully reopened its doors in 2017 as a multi-purpose cultural venue.

“Before the renovation, the screening room was crowded with more than 700 seats,” explained Marwane Fachane, the executive director of Cinema Renaissance. “The wooden floors were cracked and apparently there were rats living there!”

A tasteful renovation has been applied throughout, with monochromatic tiles and gold lettering paying homage to the city’s art deco heritage. There are now 350 seats available for guests, a reduced number that accommodates more lounge space and modern security measures.

Repurposed and reimagined – with community in mind

However, renovation efforts have had to take into account today’s preferences. “We also had to adapt to make the spaces compatible with today’s society,” said Fachane.

One thing Cine-Theatre Lutetia, Cinémathèque de Tanger and Cinema Renaissance have in common is that they are now called “multicultural centers”. As well as screenings, theaters host panel discussions, music events and film festivals.

“It is important that cinemas separate themselves from broadcast and TV services,” explained Fachane. “Cinemas have more social value.”

“My friend lives in Meknes. There is no movie theater there, so he brings his daughters by train to visit them on Sunday mornings. They will get pancakes after that and go home,” laughs Fachane. “The train journey is two hours long.”

It seems that the idea of ​​seeing a movie as an afternoon outing and an opportunity to have fun is also making a comeback.

Cinema Renaissance is proud to be a place for discussion and exchange of ideas. Its international film festivals have become more popular in the last few years.

During the organization of the Italian Film Festival in September 2022, the cinema showed a series of independently made movies from the country.

“After that, those present would discuss the themes of the films,” Fachane told me. “It was a great way to exchange ideas and create relationships between different communities.”

Developed cinemas in Morocco focused on developing the local film industry, too; Cinema Rif recently hosted a screening of Sound of Berberia, an independent film about two young musicians who travel across North Africa in an attempt to discover the regional Amazigh music.

At Casablanca’s Cine-Theatre Lutetia, an extensive program of Moroccan films has been selected, including screenings of Animalia by Sofia Alaoui (2023), Mother of All Lies by Asmaa El Moudir (2023), Deserts by Faouzi Bensaidi (2023) and The Damned Don ‘t Cry by Fyzal Boulifa (2022).

“All these changes have helped us to re-establish the place of cinema culture,” said Fachane with great haste. “They are not only renewed for the old generation, but they deserve to be loved by the young.”