A movie director investigates on a murder. The movie focuses on cinema and how it is shaped by Hollywood and colonialism.

In Casablanca, a group of filmmakers interview people about their expectations of Moroccan cinema. The subject of their inquiry shifts when they decide to investigate the motives behind an accidental killing. DE QUELQUES ÉVÉNEMENTS SANS SIGNIFICATION questions the role of art in society and the crises that can affect a budding national film industry. This innovative cinematic experiment was intended as an independent project by a collective of militant artists and journalists at a time of harsh repression in the Kingdom of Morocco. Screened for the first time in Paris in 1975, the film was immediately censored and a ban placed on broadcasting or exporting it. This essay film lay forgotten until the recent discovery of a negative, restored by the Filmoteca de Catalunya, allowing it to be rediscovered 45 years after it was made.

a film by Mostapha DERKAOUI

starring
Abbas FASSI FEHRI, Aïcha SAADOUN

Morocco, 1974, Feature drama, 1h14, color, 35 mm

TITLES
Morocco (Arabic title) (original script title): Ahdate bila dalala
Morocco (French title): De quelques événements sans signification
France : DE QUELQUES ÉVÉNEMENTS SANS SIGNIFICATION
International Title: About Some Meaningless Events
Spain (Spanish Title): Acerca de algunos acontecimientos carentes de sentido (ES) |
Turkey (Turkish title): Bazı Anlamsız Olaylar
International Title: About Some Meaningless Events


Duration: 74 min (1h14)
Support: 35 mm
Original negatives: 16mm
Couleur: Couleur
Support de diffusion : DCP (depuis 2019)
Couleur : Couleur
Pays : Maroc
Année Year: 1974
Country: Marocco
Running time: 78'
Film Version: Arabic version with English subtitles
Sound: Sound


FILM NOTES
Around the port's streets and popular bars of Casablanca, a group of filmmakers conduct discussions with people about their expectations of, and aspirations for, the emerging Moroccan national cinema. When a disgruntled worker kills his superior accidentally, their inquest shifts focus, and they begin to probe the context and motives of the killing. At the heart of De quelques événements sans signification is an interrogation on the role of cinema (and art) in society, documentary and the Real, and what constitutes an urgency for a national cinema that is being born. This unique filmic experience was conceived as an independent and collective effort of militant filmmakers, actors, musicians, poets and journalists at a time of heightened repression on freedom of expression in Morocco and was funded by the sale of paintings by several contemporary painters. The film was first screened in Paris in 1975 but was immediately taxed with censorship and forbidden from exhibition and export. It was forgotten until a negative print was found in the archives of the Filmoteca de Catalunya in 2016 and restored there. 45 years after its completion, the film will finally be released. (Berlinale 2019)

FILM NOTES
In the popular bars and the streets near the port in Casablanca, a group of filmmakers conduct discussions with people about their expectations of, and aspirations for, the emerging Moroccan national cinema. When a disgruntled worker kills his superior accidentally, their inquest shifts focus, and they begin to probe the killing's context and motives.
At the heart of DE QUELQUES ÉVÉNEMENTS SANS SIGNIFICATION is an interrogation on the role of cinema (and art) in society, documentary and the real, and what constitutes an urgency for a national cinema that is being born. This unique filmic experience was conceived as an independent and collective effort of militant filmmakers, actors, musicians, poets and journalists at a time of increased suppression of freedom of expression in Morocco and was funded by the sale of paintings by several contemporary painters.
The film was shot in 16mm and developed in the Spanish laboratory Fotofilm. The editing was done in Morocco and the material then moved from Madrid to Barcelona, where it was blown up from 16mm to 35mm. In 1975 the film was shown at a film festival in Paris. Since then it was neither allowed to be shown or exported, its distribution from then on was restricted to secret screenings. The original negatives went missing after the Fotofilm lab declared insolvency in 1999. In 2016 film scholar Léa Morin discovered the negatives in the Filmoteca de Catalunya where the film was restored and finally available to be discovered internationally.
- Rasha Salti & Léa Morin
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/de-quelques-evenements-sans-signification/

Cast:
Abbas FASSI FEHRI (aka Abbas Fassi-Fihri)
Aïcha SAADOUN (aka Aïcha Saâdoun)
Nour Abdellatif
Salah Eddine Benmoussa
Mohamed Derham
Mostapha Dziri
Salah Eddine
Khalid Jamai
Abdelkader Moutaa
Mostafa Nissabouri
Mohamed Zefzaf
Hamid Zoughi

Dir.: Mostapha DERKAOUI
Screenwriter: Mostapha DERKAOUI
Dialogist: Mostapha DERKAOUI
Director of Photography: Abdelkrim DERKAOUI
Sound: Noureddine GOUNAJJAR
Editor: Mostapha DERKAOUI
Music: A. NAHORNY, Nourredine Gounnajjar (as Noureddine Gounajjar)

Production :
Basma Productions

Distribution Internationale :
TALITHA (Léa Morin) | talitha.contact(@)gmail.com | morin.lea(@)gmail.com
https://cinima3.com/De-quelques-evenements

WORLD SALES
Léa Morin | L'Observatoire (Casablanca)

Contact :
Filmoteca de Catalunya (Esteve Riambau) | eriambau(@)gencat.cat

Digital Restoration (4K)
- Centre de Conservació i Restauració de la Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona
- L'Observatoire, le Musée Collectif de Casablanc

Release Dates: :
Morocco: 1974 (limited)
France: November 1975 (Festival International Cinématographique de Paris)
Italy: 22 June 2019 (Il Cinema Ritrovato) (restored version)
Portugal: 27 November 2019 (restored version) (Porto/Post/Doc - 6th Film & Media Festival)
USA: 18 March 2021 (Museum of Modern Art, New York City) (internet)

2021 | 27th FESPACO (Ouaga, Burkina)| 16-23 Oct
* Sélection : FESPACO Classics

2021 | 15th TCAFF - Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival (Minneapolis-
St. Paul, USA) | Sept 29-Oct 3, 2021 | in hybrid format
* Sélection

2021 | MoMA Presents, In conjunction with the film series Doc Fortnight 2021
* Film series is part of MoMA Presents.

2019 | IL CINEMA RITROVATO | 20-30 Giugno 2019, Bologna, Italia
* Section: Cinemalibero. Fespaco 1969-2019
COPY FROM: Filmoteca de Catalunya
Restored in 2019 by Filmoteca de Catalunya, with the support of L'Observatoire, the Musée Collectif de Casablanca, the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the Arab Fund for Art and Culture (AFAC), Akademie Schloss Solitude and Kibrit, from the original 16mm negatives
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/film/de-quelques-evenements-sans-signification/

2019 | 69th Berlinale (Berlin, Germany) | 07-17 Feb 2019
* SELECTION : Forum - Archival constellation
www.berlinale.de/en/archive/jahresarchive/2019/02_programm_2019/02_filmdatenblatt_2019_201919483.html

_____________


ES

En Casablanca, un grupo de cineastas entrevista a diferentes personas para saber qué esperan del cine nacional marroquí. El rumbo de la película cambia cuando los cineastas deciden investigar un asesinato accidental. Acerca de algunos acontecimientos carentes de importancia se plantea el papel del arte en la sociedad y la inmediatez a la que se enfrenta una cinematografía nacional en ciernes. Esta innovadora experiencia cinematográfica es el proyecto independiente de un colectivo de artistas y periodistas militantes residentes en el Reino de Marruecos.
Proyectada por primera vez en París en 1975, se prohibió en Marruecos de inmediato que la película pudiera verse o exportarse. El ensayo cinematográfico cayó en el olvido hasta que, recientemente, se encontró un negativo que ha sido restaurado por la Filmoteca de Catalunya, haciendo posible su visionado 45 años después de que se rodara.

con
Abdellatif Nour, Abbas Fassi- Fihri, Hamid Zoughi, Mostafa Dziri, Aïcha Saâdoun, Mohamed Derham, Salah-Eddine Benmoussa, Abdelkader Moutaâ, Khalid Jamaï, Chafik Shimi

una película de Mostapha DERKAOUI

Marruecos, 1974, Ficción-documental, 1h16, color, 16mm inflado a 35mm, DCP (versión restaurada), en árabe marroquí con subtítulos españoles

Género: Documental
País: Marruecos
Año: 1975
Características: 76' | Color | Árabe | Subt. español | Versión restaurada

Títulos:
- De Quelques Évènements sans Signification (FR) |
- Acerca de algunos acontecimientos carentes de sentido (ES) |
- About Some Meaningless Events (EN) |

Dirección: Mostafa Derkaoui
Guion: Mostafa Derkaoui
Fotografía: Mohamed Abdelkrim Derkaoui
Montaje: Mostafa Derkaoui
Sonido: Stan Wiszniewski, Noureddine Gounejjar, Larbi Essakalli, Miloud Bourbouh, Menouar Samiri
Intérpretes: Abdellatif Nour, Abbas Fassi- Fihri, Hamid Zoughi, Mostafa Dziri, Aïcha Saâdoun, Mohamed Derham, Salah-Eddine Benmoussa, Abdelkader Moutaâ, Khalid Jamaï, Chafik Shimi
Malika El Mesrar, Omar Chenbout, Mostafa Nissabouri
Música: Nahorny

Producción: Basma

Restauración digital:
Centre de Conservació i Restauració de la Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona

Festivales y premios
Berlinale, 2019
FID Marseille, Francia, 2019 (MENTION SPÉCIALE DU PRIX DU GNCR)
Festival Int. du Film de Marrakech, Marruecos, 2019
La Mostra de Valencia, 2019
Porto/Post/Doc, Portugal, 2019
Festival National du Film de Tanger, 2019
FCAT Tarifa, España, 2021 - Está proyección es posible gracias a la colaboración de la Filmoteca de Catalunya.