Border, Africa, Europe, Spain, Morocco, smugglers, capitalism

Interview with Director Randa Maroufi

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

It’s important to me to talk about the anecdotic part of this project because it helped me somehow into my desire to want to work on this subject.

Ceuta is a territory that I have frequented since my young age because my father was a customs inspector. Besides, many people in my family work in this field, as well as in transit, import and export, and so on. Customs slang often recurred in our family meetings. I remember that we even used goods from customs seizures.

I lived for several years in the region of Tangier and studied four years at the National Institute of Fine Arts of Tetouan. I have always been marked by the Spanish influence in this region, almost omnipresent, strongly found in the regional dialect, the way of living, and especially in the culture of consumption.

In 2015, I had the opportunity to stay at the Trankat Art Residency. I spent three weeks, returning on foot and by car to watch this «ballet» of individuals around the border of Bab Sebta.

The dynamics of movement, the plastic and visual appearance of the passage, the characteristic situations of waiting and the gestures immediately interested me. This remote observation experiment inaugurated the project.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

Bab Sebta can be considered an artistic experimentation that questions the limit of the representation and invites us to feel for a moment the strange reality of the city.

In this proposal, an investment and an extra effort of imagination on the part of the spectators will be required so that they accept to take the false for the true, the decor for the reality ...

The film reminds us of over productivity, a portrait of endless capitalism.

I think that this topic will interest many people as it's one of the major problems we are going through in the world.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

Bab Sebta is too personal and too universal. It is a kind of mourning for me as I dedicate it to my father, who worked as a customs inspector and died in 1999. It’s also universal because the film transcribes this particular tension felt on this small territory separating Africa from Europe but also a more general state of the world.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

Bab Sebta has been written as and my meetings and my visits to Ceuta. The artistic choice of a black background was made at the last minute, just before the shooting. The post-production was a challenge for me.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

Many positive feedback and reviews but I can't wait to share it with the people who participated in the film and the people from the region where the film was shot. It's important to me.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Share it in different contexts through festivals, events, …

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

The question of borders.

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I'm working on a new short film project that will talk about an abandoned mine in the Oriental region of northeastern Morocco.

Interview: May 2020

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Bab Sebta

Border, Africa, Europe, Spain, Morocco, smugglers, capitalism

Length: 19:00

Director: Randa Maroufi

Producer: Saïd Hamich Benlarbi

Writer: Randa Maroufi

About the writer, director and producer:

Born in 1987 in Casablanca. RANDA MAROUFI currently lives and works in Paris. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Fine Arts, Tetouan, Morocco (2010) and the School of Fine Arts, Angers, France (2013). She also earned a diploma from Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing, France (2015). Randa Maroufi has been Artist Member of Academy of France in Madrid at Casa de Velázquez in 2017 – 2018. Her experimental works as a filmmaker and artist explore an elastic awareness of reality. Her films and moving images often employ special effects and other formal devices that alter perceptions of time, space and movement. She has received many awards for her film Le Park (2015), and Bab Sebta (2019).

Key cast: With the female and male goods’ carriers of Ceuta, Morocco.

Looking for: film festival directors

Facebook: Randa Maroufi

Twitter: @randamaroufi

Instagram: @randa_maroufi

Hashtags used: #randamaroufi #babsebta #ceutasgate

Website: www.randamaroufi.com

Other: Vimeo

Made in association with: CNC / AFAC / DFI / La Fondation des Artistes / Casa de Velazquez / KLF Foundation / Le Fresnoy

Funders: Production: Barney Production

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Kinodot Experimental film Festival, Russia. (film festival online) 22.05.20 > 26.05.20; Festival Côté Court de Pantin, France. (film festival) 05.06.20 > 15.06.20.