Achawar: Amazigh drama competes with Darija-speaking in Morocco, and this is the secret of the success of "Baba Ali"
Moroccan director Mostafa Achour during the filming of the third part of the Amazigh series "Baba Ali"
Amazigh drama in Morocco has received wide attention in recent years, following the success of a number of television works, including the series "Baba Ali", whose third season, which was broadcast during the past Ramadan, continued to achieve high viewership rates, similar to the first and second parts.
In this interview with "Aswat Magharebia", the director of the series "Baba Ali", Mustafa Achour, talks about the secret of the success of the series and his evaluation of the Amazigh drama in Morocco and the extent to which it competes with other productions that speak the Moroccan dialect, Arabic or even foreign languages.
Moroccan director Mustapha Achour
Here is the text of the interview:
?What is your assessment of the Amazigh drama in Morocco
The Amazigh drama took a big step to gain recognition first on the national scene, where the Amazigh culture was recognized in the drama and television fabric in Morocco, and this step was prominent in some productions that attracted audiences and interest even from outside Morocco.
It can be said that the Amazigh drama is moving towards the right path, as it shows that there are competencies, topics and a new vision, and it only needs to provide it with the capabilities and give it the opportunity to move for the better.
You directed the Amazigh television series "Baba Ali", which in its three parts achieved high viewership rates on the "eighth" channel, so what is the secret in that?
I believe that the secret of the success of this series lies in its closeness to the viewer, because regardless of the fact that it appears as a comic series, it deals in depth with topics from the core of daily life, and this is the reason for the great interaction of the viewers with it because each of them finds a part of his suffering, problems, thinking and philosophy. In which.
In addition to the strength of the scenario, we also find the role of the technical team that continued to work on the series since its first part despite the difficulties it faced due to weather conditions, in addition to that the role of the great artists who embodied their roles as they should and may have gone beyond the total reincarnation of the characters to the extent that they are still associated with them in their daily lives until some called them by their names in the street.
?What are the most prominent issues that the series was keen to raise during its three parts
First of all, I would like to point out that the challenge was great in order to continue the success achieved by the first part, and there was a fear of not reaching that level, but thank God we were able even in the third part to provide a qualitative addition to the series and achieve great success and high viewership.
As for the topics and messages that the series dealt with, whether directly or indirectly, it was represented in the call for religious moderation through the conflict that took place in the "roundabout" (the village) between two faqihs, one moderate and the other practicing obscurantism, oppression and religious domination, and the status of women in Amazigh society, where She always had a special and high status to the extent that she assumed power, in addition to current issues such as the cost of living crisis.
The issue of execution, which is being discussed in Morocco, was also addressed, and we showed through the series that the Amazigh community was one of the first societies in history to abolish the death penalty. He is offered a little to eat as a criminal punishment alternative to death.
?How do you see the future of dramatic productions in the Amazigh language in Morocco
There must be a will on the part of those responsible for the artistic sector in order to promote Amazigh production, because we cannot reach great quality and Amazigh production is still very weak. The annual production is three series per year, four short films and two or three short series.
This raises a big problem for us as observers and as Amazigh workers in the field because of the estrangement that this causes between scenes and Amazigh drama during the year, unlike other productions.
Therefore, the unfair division of support for Moroccan productions must be reconsidered, as it involves a kind of injustice against the Amazigh drama because of the obstacle to supporting its productions, meaning that the products must be divided fairly to ensure that the Amazigh drama competes with its Darija-speaking counterpart.
?Do you mean that there is no competition between the Amazigh drama and the rest of the productions that speak the Moroccan dialect
Despite the poor production, the Amazigh drama competes today with its dialectical counterpart, according to the high viewership rates that it achieved, whether on television or on “YouTube”, where it was able to arouse the interest of viewers from outside Morocco, and for this we say that the classification of the Amazigh drama should be reconsidered because they consider it of the highest degree. The second, while it has all the components of drama in terms of directing and artistic creativity.
If we compare the Amazigh series with their dialectical counterparts, we note that there is Haifa in the budget allocated for Amazigh production, in addition to the fact that the 30% of the Amazigh production that was decided by the campaign book of the Moroccan “First” channel has not been activated.
This is at the level of television. As for cinema, it faces a serious problem, which is evident in the Moroccan Film Center’s failure to support Amazigh cinema with the justification that it has no audience and the absence of a profit margin in the Amazigh film, which are unacceptable and flimsy justifications.
This means that Amazigh cinema is absent from competition in local, national and even international festivals, because participation in a competition requires that Amazigh production be at least three or four films per year, while reality records the production of one Amazigh film per year and sometimes it is not, so the last Amazigh film took place. It was produced in 2019 or a year before.
Source : websites