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Mohammed & Paul: Once Upon a Time in Tangier

Nordin Lasfar
Tue 17 Mar - Wed 25 Mar
  • Content rating: Watch out with children under 12
  • Content rating: Drugs- and alcoholabuse
  • Content rating: Coarse Language

Mohammed & Paul: Once Upon a Time in Tangier offers an unorthodox portrait of Mohammed Mrabet, the only author who cannot read or write. The documentary follows his extraordinary friendship with writer Paul Bowles, paints a critical picture of the American artist colony in Tangier, and explores the borderland between the imaginary and the real. Excerpts from Mrabet's stories, recorded on dozens of cassette tapes, are complemented by magical-realistic AI images: a giant fish, a melon that houses a palace, and other poetic visual scenes.

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Growing up in the Netherlands as the child of Moroccan parents, director Nordin Lasfar was inspired by the writer Paul Bowles, who introduced him to the literature and stories of Morocco. In the 1960s and 1970s, Tangier was a lively refuge for Western artists and writers of the beat generation. At the center of this artistic landscape was Mohammed Mrabet, a young fisherman's son and master storyteller from the Moroccan oral tradition. His stories gained worldwide fame when Bowles wrote them down, leading to a close but complex friendship between the two men, formed in a time of artistic freedom, social inequality, and hidden taboos.

Now, in his old age, Mrabet looks back on those years and his unique way of storytelling. Lasfar follows him through archive footage, interviews, and atmospheric street scenes of Tangier, exploring the balance between Mrabet's voice and that of the writer. At the same time, the film poses a fundamental question: who is the owner if it is only heard through the voice of another?

Mohammed & Paul: Once Upon a Time in Tangier
Duration
93 min
RELEASE
Thu 5 Mar
Year
2025
Language
English
Subtitles
Dutch
  • Content rating: Watch out with children under 12
  • Content rating: Drugs- and alcoholabuse
  • Content rating: Coarse Language

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